With a rocket of a car underneath him Toll HSV dealer team broke the Ford domination of Queensland Raceway, fulfilling a promise he made just a few weeks ago when he vowed to win the BigPond 400 on enemy turf.

Tander also extended his lead in the V8 Supercar Championship Series with the most dominant win of any driver this season. He made a promise after the last round in Darwin that he would do everything he could to win, and he did.

The West Australian-born Commodore driver was unstoppable. In a day of drama he not only held out another from driver in Ford Performance Racing’s Jason Bright and Team Betta Electrical’s Craig Lowndes – he smashed them.

“Fantastic result,” said Tander after he also extended his Championship lead.

“We wanted to come up here (from Melbourne) and return serve. We were pumped up for a big result and we far, far exceeded any expectation we had.

“We expected the Queensland teams to be a bit stronger to be honest. We didn’t think we would start from the front from Friday.”

Tander literally had a rocket underneath him.

“We figured we would be pretty close to the mark and could not be happier. I was worried some people would start calling me Russell Ingall so I knew I had to get my act together and start winning some races,” he said.

“As long as we are extending the lead I am happy. We go to Oran Park next where our car was strong last year and then Sandown and Bathurst where anything can happen.”

He swept clear of the field from the onset and within laps of the final race had a massive lead on the Falcon of Lowndes who had gotten around the Jeld Wen Falcon of James Courtney in the early stages.

As Tander cleared out the field was left to fight it out. Lowndes had a slow compulsory pit stop, losing second position back to Courtney in the pits on lap eight.

Problems later in the race ruined Courtney’s great weekend up until that point. He was on line for his first podium before the troubles on lap 24 of the final 45-lap race. Courtney pulled into the garage with his race virtually over.

The same happed to Mark Skaife whose Holden Racing Team had a horrific weekend. Skaife had troubles in the last race having battled back from dramas in race one while his team-mate Todd Kelly had absolutely no luck all weekend with many dramas.

The middle reverse grid race gave spectators everything they would have hoped for. There was passing everywhere, drivers often threw caution to the wind and there was some early stoushes that ended in minor damage.

It was also where Tander went from 29th on the grid to finish second.

It was an intriguing battle that Skaife dominated with a longer pit stop strategy. It made amends for a disappointing Saturday when he was the victim of an early incident and a drive-through penalty.

The reverse grid race win gave Skaife some much needed points before the last race, moving him up the grid to at least have the chance in the decider.

The race left Courtney and Tander on the front of the grid for the third and final race.

Earlier in the day Howard Racing’s Adam Macrow won his third straight 2006 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series round win after he finished on top of the points with consistent finishes in all three races.

The Perkins Motorsport trio of Shane Price and Jack Perkins overshadowed their more experienced competitors by finishing second and third respectively.

The Championship now heads to Oran Park in Sydney on August 11-13.

SATURDAY

Race One (100km - 32 laps)

1. Garth Tander (Holden) 39mins:57.9354secs

2. Jason Bright (Ford) 39:59.5765

3. James Courtney (Ford) 40:00.4475

4. Craig Lowndes (Ford) 40:00.9525

5. Russell Ingall (Ford) 40:01.4435

6. Steven Richards (Holden) 40:03.9194

7. Rick Kelly (Holden) 40:05.2286

8. Jamie Whincup (Ford) 40:05.6051

9. Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 40:05.8446

10. Max Wilson (Ford) 40:07.7044

SUNDAY

Race Two (45 laps - 140km - reverse grid)

1. Mark Skaife (Holden) 57mins:49.9456secs

2. Garth Tander (Holden) 57:52.6080

3. James Courtney (Ford) 57:53.9257

4. Rick Kelly (Holden) 57:54.8997

5. Todd Kelly (Holden) 57:55.0956

6. Craig Lowndes (Ford) 57:56.5589

7. Paul Morris (Holden) 57:58.3991

8. Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 57:59.3513

9. Jason Bright (Ford) 57:59.8155

10. Russell Ingall (Ford) 58:00.3002


Race Three (45 laps - 140km)

1. Garth Tander (Holden) 56mins:27.2356secs

2. Rick Kelly (Holden) 56:31.9486

3. Jason Bright (Ford) 56:32.3848

4. Craig Lowndes (Ford) 56:32.7280

5. Russell Ingall (Ford) 56:33.2109

6. Steven Richards (Holden) 56:39.0807

7. Paul Radisich (Holden) 56:43.8866

8. Jamie Whincup (Ford) 56:44.1400

9. Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 56:44.5806

10. Greg Murphy (Holden) 56:45.6445


Round Points

1. Garth Tander (Holden) 318 points

2. Jason Bright (Ford) 294

3. Craig Lowndes (Ford) 288

4. Rick Kelly (Holden) 286

5. Russell Ingall (Ford) 272

6. Steven Richards (Holden) 254

7. Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 244

8. Paul Radisich (Holden) 224

9. Jamie Whincup (Ford) 212

10. Greg Murphy (Holden) 212


Series pointscore (after six of 13 rounds)

1. Garth Tander (Holden) 1642 points

2. Craig Lowndes (Ford) 1604

3. Rick Kelly (Holden) 1597

4. Russell Ingall (Ford) 1474

5. Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 1435

6. Steven Richards (Holden) 1388

7. Jamie Whincup (Ford) 1258

8. Jason Bright (Ford) 1248

9. Paul Dumbrell (Holden) 1248

10. Mark Skaife (Holden) 1244