Team Vodafone drivers Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes will battle for the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series tomorrow after Garth Tander equalled Whincup for points in today's opening race.

Whincup finished third in today's race behind Tander and the Holden Racing Team's Mark Skaife.

The result sees Whincup and Tander equal on championship points, with Lowndes slowly sliding out of the championship picture.

Struggling for race pace, Whincup will seek to improve his Vodafone Falcon for tomorrow's final championship races.

“It was great to salvage third out of today's race as we really didn't have the pace we thought we would,” said Whincup.

“There was no particular part of the track that we struggled with, but the car it just didn't have a nice balance, we will study the information we have tonight and make some changes.

“I will be approaching tomorrow the same as usual and I am excited, it should be a great battle.”

Lowndes remains third, but twenty-three points behind, and appears likely to slip from championship contention in tomorrow's first race, unless he can finish higher than both Tander and Whincup.

“It wasn't the most ideal race but we are starting off the second row of the grid tomorrow,” said Lowndes.

“I got an ok start but got caught up in the positioning at the first corner and Garth got around me.

“I also made a small mistake leaving the pits which cost me track position.

“Once we got past Todd (Kelly) we were able to show our pace but we will make few changes to setup tonight to ensure we are prepared for a good fight to the end tomorrow.”

Jamie Whincup needs only to finish higher than Tander in tomorrow's two races to clinch the 2007 championship, where Craig Lowndes needs both his team mate and the Toll HSV Dealer Team driver to finish outside of the points for him to be in contention.

The final two races of the 2007 championship will be held tomorrow.