By Matthew Agius
Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup has reclaimed the lead of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series after claiming victory in the Falken Tasmania Challenge, in what was a disastrous day for his Toll HSV Dealer Team rivals.
Heading into the second race, then championship leader Garth Tander needed to finish ahead of his championship rivals to have a strong claim to winning the 2007 title at the final round at Phillip Island.
However after finishing the second race in tenth place, and retiring from the weekend's final sprint, Tander has dropped to second place in the championship, whilst Whincup was catapulted to first place from third following his strong round win.
Whincup's teammate, Craig Lowndes, has slipped to third place in the championship, twenty-one points behind, after finishing fifth overall.
The new championship leader won the weekend from the Ford Performance Racing Falcons of Steven Richards and Mark Winterbottom.
After looking like a disappointing weekend for Ford following Tander's record pace on Saturday, where he set a new touring car lap record, the Blue Oval filled six of the top ten places in the overall round points.
Holden Racing Team driver Mark Skaife salvaged a solid result for the red army, after struggling in the previous two rounds at Surfers Paradise and Bahrain, by finishing fourth overall.
Jason Richards performed strongly today, gaining a podium finish in the final race to claim sixth overall, ahead of Tander who eventually collected just thirty-two points.
Steven Johnson led home Rick Kelly and James Courtney, the latter making up a stack of places having started from twenty-eighth in race two – eventually collecting two top ten finishes.
The weekend's result sees three men with a realistic chance of claiming the title at Phillip Island in a fortnight. Jamie Whincup leads Garth Tander by a slender eight points, with Craig Lowndes a further thirteen points behind.
