“IT’S on” was the message Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and Will Davison sent Team Vodafone with a one-two win at Sandown Raceway yesterday.
The pair were protecting not only their track reputation as Holden’s top team, but also their standing with the public.
It follows last week’s announcement that Vodafone drivers Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup would receive factory backing to race Holdens next year.
The Toll duo are battling Whincup and Lowndes for this year’s crown and face the prospect of the Ford favourites being equally popular in Holdens next season. Courier Mail
“HRT has been the No.1 Holden team for past couple of years and I think it will continue to be the No.1 Holden team going forward,” Tander said defiantly following his win.
Davison was the weekend’s big winner as he cut Whincup’s championship lead to 117 points at the midway point of the season.
Second-placed Davison and third-placed Tander are now serious live chances of wresting Whincup’s title - especially with the endurance rounds and big chunks of points at Phillip Island and Bathurst looming.
“We’ve had a few races lately where the strategy’s been to zig and we’ve zagged, so it’s great for us to get it right,” Tander said.
“There wasn’t a lot of engine going on in the car at the end - it was just get the car home. I was surprised we lasted the full distance to be honest, it was a fantastic result.” Sydney Morning Herald
It was a great fight back for Tander after a disastrous day yesterday when he started the race from 27th after a mistake in qualifying.
“It is a lot easier when you start 21 grid places further up the field,” he said.
“It was totally my mistake (in qualifying) yesterday that cost us a shot at that race, so basically from then on it was just a case of setting things up for today’s race.
“I probably didn’t qualify as well as I would have liked this morning but the car was very good in the race.
“The guys did a fantastic job strategy-wise so it was a pretty straight-forward job for us.
“For the last half of the race it was a case of staying in front and managing it till the end; just before the race we found that the battery wasn’t charging, so it was a bit sick at the end of the race; it was good to get it over the line. I was surprised that we lasted the full distance to be honest,” he said.
Tander explained that this is why he slowed at the end of the race and that it wasn’t to allow Davison to catch up for a form finish.
“We haven’t been teammates for long so I don’t know if I trust him enough yet for a form finish,” Tander joked. V8 Supercars
| 
|