KEY POINTS:
Holden's Garth Tander won the 2007 Australian V8 Supercar championship yesterday.
Tander finished fourth in race three to win the final round of the series and secure the overall title ahead of Ford's Jamie Whincup by just two points.
Ford's Craig Lowndes finished third in the championship.
It
is 30-year-old Tander's first V8 Supercar championship and the second successive for his Toll-HSV Dealer Team after Rick Kelly's win in 2006.
Tander held his nerve through one of the most absorbing duels in V8 Supercar history - spending most of the third and final race of the round sandwiched between Whincup and Lowndes as the trio raced head-to-head.
With Holden's Todd Kelly out in front, Tander had to contend with Lowndes nudging him from behind at every opportunity as Whincup set out to catch the race leader.
With two laps remaining, Lowndes squeezed past Tander, who momentarily was tapped sideways before regaining control.
But the only way Whincup could take the championship was to pass Todd Kelly, and he was unable to do so, despite closing to within a car length with just a few corners to go.
Tander started the weekend seven points behind Whincup, but moved to equal points with a win in race one.
He took the championship lead by winning race two while Whincup finished third, giving him a seven-point lead going into the final 27-lap race.
While Tander started from pole position, he was outgunned by Todd Kelly at the start of the race before the vagaries of the compulsory pit stop took over.
He emerged from his pit stop trapped between Whincup and Lowndes, setting up a duel to the line between the three men who started the weekend in championship contention.
This weekend's victory was Tander's fourth win in the 14 rounds this year.
Tander finished with 625 championship points, Whincup with 623 and Lowndes 592.
He also had to overcome the psychological effects of a dreadful result in the previous round in Tasmania, in which he crashed out to allow Whincup back into the title race.
Tander paid tribute to his team for turning around a car which struggled in Saturday's qualifying session, leaving him to fight his way up the grid from seventh spot in race one.
"To turn the car around like that was unbelievable - and their efforts have been second to none," he said.
"It's a great result for our team. It's great to fight back like that after what happened in Tassie."
- AAP
