Motorsport: Tander top on day one

Garth Tander shone at Surfers Paradise yesterday. Photo / Getty Images

Holden star Garth Tander claimed the honours but it was the title stoush between his team-mate Will Davison and Ford's Jamie Whincup which took centre stage at the Gold Coast V8 Supercar event.

Tander took home the unique surfboard winner's trophy with victory in yesterday's second 150km race, but third place overall to Davison and a poor day for Whincup saw the TeamVodafone driver's championship lead cut to 41 points.

Whincup's day was always going to be tough when he suffered a puncture early in the first 150km event, battling his way back through the field to finish 13th and eighth in the two races.

That misfortune allowed Davison to take advantage, finishing third in both to claim 130 points on the day, 52 more than Whincup.

Davison's intent appeared obvious early on as he touched panels with Whincup going into the first bend in the opening race, but he said any aggression towards his rival wasn't premeditated.

"I suppose it looks like that but, no, you can't plan what you're going to do at race starts," he said. "You get a good jump like I did, you get plenty of momentum and you play it by ear.

"There was a bit of contact but that's pretty natural for this time of year, I think there's going to be a bit more of that and hopefully it stays relatively clean."

Tander, sitting third on the championship ladder, said while his own title ambitions are a long shot, he certainly hasn't thrown in the towel.

"I'm still a far way off so we're just going to go and try to win as many races as I can and see what happens," he said. "I can't control what happens with Will and Jamie and Craig [Lowndes]. For me it's just a matter of going and doing my own thing to stay out of trouble, score a heap of points and where we finish is where we finish."

Splitting the Holden pair was Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom, who overcame a bout of glandular fever and took full advantage of the pole position he won in the morning to claim the day's first 150km race.

The Super GP event at Surfers Paradise continues today with an all-in 20-minute qualifying session followed by another two 150km races.

- AAP