It was a wet finish to the Sydney Motorsport Park Super Sprint at Eastern Creek today. The Holden Racing team woke up to a rain drenched circuit this morning, but the weather cleared early for a dry qualifying session.

Today’s racing format comprised of a qualifying session, where Tander placed 22nd and Perkins 25th, followed by a 52-lap race around the 3.93km circuit. The two HRT teams opted for different tyre strategies with car #2 choosing soft-hard-soft and car #22 hard-soft-hard.

While the grey clouds lingered and rain threaten all day, Race 23 got underway in dry conditions. The start of the 200km race saw the usually push and barge for positions and on the opening lap a car ended up in the gravel trap.

The safety car was called just as most of the field were passing the start finish line for the first time, but Perkin’s had already been called in for his first stop to swap to soft tyres. The rest of the field, including Tander, had to circulate one more lap before being able to take advantage of the safety car and pit. The strategy was timed perfectly and worked in Perkin’s favour - he jumped most of the field to find himself in 4th place.

On lap 30 Tander was called in for his second stop to change tyres and re-fuel, but just two laps later the heavens opened which forced teams to abandon tyre strategies and everyone stopped for wets.

While this was unfolding, a car found its way into the gravel trap and a second safety car was called so it could be retrieved. It was then a wet and wild 25 lap ride to the chequered flag. Due to extended safety car periods the race became time-certain and was reduced by two laps to 50.

Perkins finished just outside the top 10 in 11th and Tander was just one place behind in 12th. Garth remains 7th in the championship. With Courtney unable to compete this weekend he has slipped back to 8th in the standings.

The Holden Racing Team now look forward to the start of the Endurance season commencing at Sandown 11 – 13 September.

Garth Tander, #2 Holden Commodore VF

“It was a tough race today, I made up a load of spots again off the line and during the first lap. Then the safety car came out and we got boxed in a bit there. Our car speed on the hard tyre wasn’t what it needed to be so we struggled quite a bit.”

“Then we came in and put softs on and did two laps and it rained, so we had to come in and put wets on. Everything that could go wrong today did. Now I’m just looking forward to the enduros, we have a test day before then so hopefully we can sort a few things out there. Hopefully we can come out firing at Sandown.”

Qualifying for Race 23 Result: 22nd
Race 23 Result: 12th
Fastest Lap Time: 1:31.9585

Jack Perkins, #22 Holden Commodore VF

“We were looking to build on yesterday and we knew there was definitely room for improvement today. Qualifying was pretty ordinary for the team. I will put my hand up as a driver and say I didn’t do a good enough job, but with GT and Sladey both in the 20s as well we have a little bit of work to do as a team.”

“We spoke about the rain coming in at the start of the race and it was definitely coming. It was worth planning for and Al and I had done that. The safety car went our way at the start of the race and we got track position early. We did a long stint there on the soft tyre then came out in a good position on the wets when it started raining.”

“It looks like our tyre pressures on the wets were a little bit low to start with and we lost a bit of track time early, but once the tyre temperature came up we were able to press on and we got a couple of places back.

“We finished just outside the top 10 in 11th. We were both looking for better results for HRT but any time you start in the 20s and finish nearly in the 10s it’s not a bad effort. Onwards and upwards now.”

“At the forefront of my mind is JC, hopefully he is good for the next one and I am really pumped up for the enduros with this team.”

Qualifying for Race 23 Result: 25th
Race 23 Result: 11th
Fastest Lap Time: 1:32.1612