Garth Tander is on fire, jumping to the lead spot in the V8 Supercar championship with a solid performance in the first race in Bahrain. Photo / Getty Images
MANAMA - Holden's Garth Tander claimed the V8 Supercar championship lead on a dramatic day in the Bahrain desert where Ford frontrunners Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes failed to finish after a first-lap crash.
Whincup, Lowndes and the Holdens of Paul Morris and Greg Murphy were battling for
position in the opening stages when the four ran out of room.
Morris and Murphy appeared to sandwich Lowndes, who spun and crashed heavily into the tyre wall.
Lowndes' race was over and so too was Morris' with broken steering.
Whincup also lost control in attempting to avoid the carnage and he clipped the tyre wall.
The championship contender lasted 13 laps before succumbing to the damage to the rear of his Falcon, as well as a blown tyre.
The Team Vodafone team-mates were reluctant to blame anyone for the crash and both their cars will be ready for tomorrow after suffering mainly cosmetic damage.
Ford's Mark Winterbottom consolidated on his pole position to win the race in dominant fashion, while Tander finished second to turn a nine-point deficit to Whincup into an 11-point lead.
Ford's Steven Johnson was third, followed by Tander's team-mate Rick Kelly, who moved above Lowndes into third in the championship with two races to go this weekend, and only two more rounds left in the series.
"It's going to be about trying to score as many points as we can to try and capitalise on (Lowndes and Whincup's) misfortune," said Tander, who will start from second on the grid for race two, while Lowndes and Whincup will be at the rear.
"It's about scoring as many points as we can in race two while they're trying to work their way through the field and then see how we go for race three.
"It's all about trying to build a championship lead here."
Winterbottom was basking in the glory of breakthrough race win after a recent run of bad luck which he hoped had come to an end with Wednesday's freak freight truck accident when the team Falcon was damaged.
The 26-year-old won by eight seconds today and his fastest lap time was seven-tenths of a second better than his nearest rivals.
- AAP
