Garth Tander will head into the final races of the 2007 V8 Supercar Series tomorrow with enviable momentum after dominantly winning today's opening race of the Dunlop Grand Finale.
Tander started from seventh on the grid after a poor qualifying performance.
However, once the 2000 Bathurst winner copied team mate Rick Kelly's setup, he was able to soundly out race all rivals on the track, to win the opening 120 kilometre race from Mark Skaife of the Holden Racing Team.
“I said to the boys on the radio at the end of the race that that is probably the best comeback performance from the session before, because the car was absolutely fantastic compared with qualifying,” said Tander.
“The way it looked after its tyres during that race was probably the best I have had all year.
“I was able to chase Mark (Skaife) down towards the end because of our tyre life.
“I am very happy with that performance, but there are two races to go.”
It was Tander's fourteenth race win for the year, and saw the Toll HSV Dealer Team driver equalise Jamie Whincup for the championship lead.
Although Tander's win brought good news for the Toll HSV Dealer Team, today's race also provided some disappointment, with 2006 champion, Rick Kelly, officially failing to defend his title, after it became mathematically impossible for him to win this year's championship.
“It was a good and bad result,” said a disappointed Kelly.
“I was very happy to get pole today.
“We tried an aggressive strategy on Friday and in qualifying, and it paid off for us, which is good.
“Unfortunately I was just a touch aggressive in the race and snagged a front, which cost us a fair bit of position.
“We fought back to fifth, so obviously the car is fast, so we can work towards a podium again tomorrow.”
Kelly finished fifth in the race, behind championship contender Craig Lowndes, and ahead of brother Todd.
Tander heads into tomorrow's final races with the ascendency over Jamie Whincup, starting from position one on the grid, although the Team Vodafone driver will start directly behind him.
