The Toll HSV Dealer Team scored its third successive double-podium finish as Garth Tander and Rick Kelly maintained their championship charge on a wild and wet weekend at Winton.
Tander had two race wins in Sunday’s racing, only to miss out on a round win for the sake of a single point – the second time that has happened in two rounds.
Rick Kelly finished third in all three races for the weekend to score third place for the round behind rwinner Jamie Whincup and Tander.
Tander’s 63-point haul brought him within just one point of championship leader Kelly, who netted 51 points to take his running tally to 224 points after found rounds.
Despite passing showers that made conditions dicey and tyre strategy difficult in all three races, Tander and Kelly did not put a wheel wrong all weekend and the team made all the right calls on tyres.
While the team naturally would have preferred to come away with the victory trophy, it was delighted to have collected the lion’s share of the championship points – again. Toll HSV Dealer Team now has a whopping lead in the Teams Championship, with 447 points to second-placed Team Vodafone’s 272.
They were also pleased to have collected two more race wins courtesy of Tander, taking the team score to nine out of a possible 11 this season.
For Tander, it was a bittersweet weekend that forced him to fight back from a Race 1 incident when he was shunted from the circuit on only the second lap in treacherous conditions.
Despite that and a hold-up in the pits, Tander fought back to fourth place in Race 1, before powering his way to wins in Race 2 and 3.
Although Whincup managed to sneak back into the lead after the compulsory pit stop in Race 2, Tander recovered the lead with a stunning pass on the outside at the esses on a partly-wet track. From then, he was never headed.
Kelly just couldn’t manage to reel in Whincup in the final race, despite closing the gap over the last few laps. Had he been able to make the pass, it would have denied Whincup the necessary points to win the round.
However, it was “mission accomplished” for both the team and Kelly, who has not missed out on a podium appearance all season as he defends his 2006 title.
Tander and Kelly are now looking forward to the return of V8 Supercar racing to Sydney’s Eastern Creek – the scene of Kelly’s first solo win.
#16 Garth Tander (Race 1- 4; Race 2 – 1; Race 3 – 1; Round – 2, 63 pts; Championship – 2, 223 pts): “Despite the rain and all the variables that causes, the guys nailed it. Certainly after the safety car in Race 3, the car was probably the best car I have ever driven around here. We pitted a few laps later than Jamie so our tyres were probably a little bit better at that stage of the race, so I took advantage of that to open up a lead and maintain that back to Jamie. So, Race 3 went totally to plan – a bit better than the first two. I am looking forward to Eastern Creek, and especially looking forward to Queensland Raceway. ”
#1 Rick Kelly (Race 1 – 3; Race 2- 3; Race 3 – 3; Round – 3; 51 pts; Championship – 1, 224 pts): “I think we are slightly behind the eight-ball with set-up; we are always just that little bit late. But by the end of the last race I think we had quite a good car and we were able to catch up to Jamie (Whincup) at the end there. With a few more laps, I would have liked to see if I could have got a little bit closer. It was a trying weekend. We have been in the top four every race so far this year and yet we have almost fallen to second in the championship, so it shows how tough it is. It is getting tougher and tougher every year. Garth and I are separated by just one point, so there is not much in it. ”
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