The Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and Will Davison are primed and ready to go for the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series, which begins with the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide this weekend.
Tander and Davison took part in the official V8 Supercar test day at Winton Motor Raceway last week (9 March), and stayed on the following day to again run laps in preparation for a very different looking series this year.
Concentrating on setup, reliability, and for Davison, comfort in new surroundings, both drivers produced extremely competitive times – Davison officially second quickest on Day 1, Tander quicker again the next – but they have warned that blistering testing times proclaimed by some teams will count for nothing when they hit Adelaide’s streets this Friday.
“The speed of our Toll HRT Commodores was good; we weren’t concerned about heroics in trying to beat anyone else’s lap times – it wasn’t a chest beating exercise, we solely wanted to concentrate on our program,” said Tander, the 2007 V8 Supercar Champion who finished third in last year’s title chase.
“At the end of the second day our speeds were very good. We are fairly confident that the cars are where we need them to be and we have sorted out areas of the car that we felt needed to be worked on from last year.
For team-mate Davison who will drive the team’s #22 VE Commodore, it was his first chance to sample a HRT machine and familiarise himself with his new surroundings.
“It was definitely a good couple of days,” said Davison, who finished fifth in last year’s championship.
“It was really beneficial to get myself acclimatised and by the second day I was starting to feel as one with the Commodore. We ran to a full schedule and did lots of laps. The most important thing is that I now feel comfortable in the car; I’m feeling confident in it and how best to drive it. We tested everything we could think of and practiced pit stops and the like.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with my new team and have gotten to know everyone pretty well. They’re all really motivated, in good spirits and have great attitudes, and they’re a pleasure to be around. Everyone just wants to win, there is lots of experience within the team and it’s been really enjoyable – it’s made me look forward to the year even more.”
There are a raft of changes for teams to contend with in this year’s V8 Supercar Championship Series; a change to E85 ethanol-blended fuel, the return of the Top 10 Shootout and the abolishment of compulsory pit stops mean that this year’s season-opener will have a very different look and feel.
“The fuel changes are going to be a big talking point for the Clipsal races, while the E85 program is important to Holden,” Tander said, with the Toll HRT Commodores carrying E85 logos and EcoLine branding signalling GM Holden’s new range of vehicles that use alternative fuels or fuel saving technology.
| 
|