Mark Winterbottom and Garth Tander both victorious at the Nikon SuperGP.
Mark Winterbottom and Garth Tander shared the spoils at the Nikon SuperGP today, both taking one win apiece in the first two 150 kilometre V8 Supercar races on the streets of Surfers Paradise.
Winterbottom continued his blistering pace of yesterday by placing his #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon on pole after the Top Ten Shootout this morning before taking victory in the opening 150km stanza, with the Holden Racing Team pair of Garth Tander and Will Davison in third.
Winterbottom started on pole for leg two with Tander beside, however after a frenetic start Tander was able to take the lead and maintain that position through a safety car-free 34 laps to claim the victory this afternoon. Will Davison was third.
"It's been a good weekend, we qualified on pole this morning and then won the first race and took second this afternoon, so given where we were a few days ago (Winterbottom has been battling a glandular illness this week) I think we are in a pretty good place," said Winterbottom in this afternoon's post race two press conference.
"It is a good result for the guys, a lot of the time this year we have been able to show speed but not take home the result, so it is good to get a surfboard today – all of the teams want a surfboard, so we are happy to take this one home tonight and try for another one tomorrow."
With Winterbottom and Tander both claiming a first and second position today, the pair have so far scored equal points for the weekend as the field stares down a further two 150km races tomorrow.
"The race went really well this afternoon, we were able to get into the lead early and pull a gap, and then we were just trying to control the race at the end," said Tander.
"The whole time I was waiting for the inevitable safety car and it didn't come, so it was great to be able to control the race like that and come home with the win.
"For me in the championship I am still a way off so I'm just going to go and win as many races as I can, for me its just a matter of me going and doing my own thing, stay out of trouble, and score a heap of points.