The Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander again showed his front-running speed in Townsville, narrowly missing out on Sunday’s 250km feature race victory – instead taking second, and the outright round win with 282 points scored.

The three-time Bathurst winner, who led home teammate James Courtney for an electrifying one-two result for HRT in yesterday’s second 125km sprint, took his third podium for the weekend after an action packed race at Reid Park.

Tander, who has now moved up to eighth in the drivers’ standings, pitted on lap one under the safety car and again on lap 46 – forcing him to run two long stints on the hard tyre, which ultimately cost him the race victory.

However, the 2007 V8 Supercars Champion was happy with the weekend – and the improved pace of his HRT Commodore.

“We had a good start, and grabbed a few spots off the line,” Tander said.

“We had the safety car emerge on lap one, so we pitted and that committed us to our race strategy. We took the safe option and it worked.

“I’m happy with my second place, I scored more points than anyone else, and the team did a fantastic job throughout the weekend.”

Tander’s teammate James Courtney, who qualified sixth on the grid, improved to fourth place despite having to double-stack in his pit-stop on lap one.

“We played the long game all afternoon with two really long stints – and we just didn’t have the speed or tyre quality that we’d hoped for.

“It would have been nice to be on the podium today, but to finish fourth and want more just shows the level of where we’re at right now.

“We’re certainly working hard on making our Commodore even faster, for better results at the next few races.”

There is now a four-week gap until the next round in Ipswich on August 1-3.