Tander Goes Flag to Flag at Eastern Creek
REIGNING V8 Supercar champion Garth Tander gave Ford a stark reminder of just how dominant he can be with a comfortable, go-to-whoa victory at Eastern Creek Raceway.
The Holden driver immediately hit back after disappointing finishes of 23rd and 19th at the season-opening Clipsal 500 in Adelaide a fortnight ago.
He capitalised on his pole position to easily win race one and will again start on pole for race two on Sunday.
Tander cruised home by 6.3 seconds from the Ford of Will Davison, who had a fantastic start to move from sixth to second on lap one and then held his position.
Clipsal 500 champion Jamie Whincup was third for Ford, followed by Holden’s Rick Kelly and Ford’s James Courtney.
The most successful ever driver at Eastern Creek, Mark Skaife, qualified on the front row but dropped places early and ended up sixth, ahead off fast-finishing Ford favourite Craig Lowndes.
The race was largely incident free in complete contrast to the Adelaide races where the leading Ford drivers came to blows.
Holdens dominated the day’s qualifying session, with Tander clocking 1 minute 32.1 seconds to hold off his teammate Skaife by 0.18s, with Rick Kelly third fastest.
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