The Holden Racing Team stormed home for two top nine finishes at the Wilson Security Sandown 500. The #2 Commodore driven by Garth Tander and Warren Luff narrowly missing the podium finishing in 4th position while the #22 team of Jack Perkins and Russell Ingall finished 9th.

It was a hot day in Melbourne with temperatures hovering around 25 degrees and with no threat of rain the 161-lap Sandown 500 kicked off the endurance season. Starting in the finishing positions of yesterday’s qualifying races, the #2 commodore lined up in 12th on the starting grid and the #22 commodore in 24th.

The two Holden Racing Teams opted for two different strategies to avoid possible double stacking in pit lane early on in the race. With co-drivers in the cockpit first Luff and Ingall were set for the 500km marathon.

Race 24, the first of the PIRTEK Endurance Cup races, got off to a clean start and Ingall was quick to gain valuable track position moving up to 18th, Luff held position in 12th.

The first of the four compulsory pits stops came early for Ingall pitting on lap 7 for two rear tyres and fuel before settling in for a long stint. Luff made his first stop on lap 23 but after re-joining the race he found himself in a fiacre battle with Reindler which almost sent him flying into the dirt.

Once all first stops had been completed by the field, Ingall sat comfortably in 6th and Luff in 16th. On lap 44 Ingall was in for a second stop but remained in the driver’s seat with Perkins eagerly watching on from the garage. Tander had his first taste of the race when car #2 pitted on lap 55 for the only driver change of the race.

At roughly the mid-way point the yellow flag was waved for the first time in the race and the safety car was called when a car ended up in the gravel and had to be retrieved. Pit lane came alight with activity as most of the field charged in for another compulsory stop. Tander joined them while Ingall continued to circulate for one more lap.

When the #22 car pitted, Ingall’s mammoth stint was complete and while the team took care of fuel and tyres Perkins jumped in and buckled up. The restart came on lap 79 with Tander in 9th and Perkins just three places behind in 12th. After a long safety car period the call come from engineer Blake Smith that Tander should be able to go flat out without having to conserve fuel. On lap 86 a similar call came through car #22’s radio which said they too were good on fuel and Perkins was urged to go faster if he could.

On lap 119 Perkins pitted for his final stop and just one lap later Tander followed. With just over 40 laps to the finish both cars had enough fuel to comfortably get them to the end, the question was which cars ahead would have too.

A second safety car was called on lap 132 for debris on the track. At the restart Tander was hot on the tail of Reynolds and was itching to get past to give him and Luff a chance at the podium. He did and next on his hit list was Van Gisbergen but with limited laps remaining had to settle for 4th position. The #22 car passed the chequered flag in 9th, a huge effort having started in 24th.

The next stop on the 2015 V8 Supercars Championship calendar is the biggest event of the season, the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, 8-11 October.

Garth Tander, #2 Holden Commodore VF:
“It was good to be battling for a podium today. We had really good car speed at the end and really good fuel economy through the middle part of the race that got us a lot of track position.”

“We could basically go a lap longer before that last stop which bought us a lot of track position and then I was able to pass Reynolds and motor up to the back of Shane. I didn’t quite have enough to get him and I think the safety car probably helped them and hurt us. We would have made it to the end on fuel and they probably would have struggled.”

“After the weekend we’d had, if you said we were going to finish fourth in the 500 I would have been pretty surprised. The guys did a really good and just kept working at it. The fuel economy was really good, pit stops were good, strategy was good and the guys did a good job all round. So roll on Bathurst.”

Warren Luff, #2 Holden Commodore VF:
“It was a great result overall and for Walkinshaw Racing to have all four cars in the top nine was great. The day didn’t start off fantastic, the initial balance of the car early in the race wasn’t overly good and we were stuck in a lot of traffic.”

“We went onto our second set of tyres and the balance of the car really improved. We had some really good car speed, caught a lot of people and picked up a few spots. The car felt like it was getting better as the track was rubbering in. I let Blake and Garth know a few things about the car and what we needed to improve. The crew did a stellar job on pit stops and strategy. Garth did what he does best and drove the absolute wheels off the thing.”

“I feel a little bit robbed to miss out on the podium at the end but considering where we started and what the balance of the car was early on in the weekend, I think it’s a great result for the team. I think going forward to Bathurst we go with renewed enthusiasm and have hopefully learnt a lot here that we can apply there.”

Jack Perkins, #2 Holden Commodore VF:
“We can’t be disappointed with that, we knew we had a car that was capable of 6th to 10th at the start of the day. To start in 24th we knew it was going to be hard to get there strategy wise. Russell did a great job and really set up the race for us, I can’t thank him enough for that.”

“Al and all the boys did a fantastic job with strategy and pit stops to get us into a better position. I only passed a hand full of people on the track and the rest we passed in the pits.”

“To have all four Walkinshaw cars in the top nine and to have Garth and Luffly nearly get on the podium is really good for the team and gives us good momentum into Bathurst.”

Russell Ingall, #22 Holden Commodore VF:
“Al and the guys all did a great job today, it was really ‘play it by ear’ and do everything on the fly depending on how good a start I got. If I got a good start they would leave me out longer and if I didn’t we were going to pit on lap one. If that had have been the case it would have limited our options. It was good that I did get a good start and get in a reasonable position, then paced on from there.”

“I don’t think we could have done anything different or better and it’s a big effort for a team to have four cars in the top nine. There are not too many teams who could have done that. It would have been nice to be on the podium but at the end of the day there was only really one other Holden that could get on the podium.”

“As a team I think we have come away with a fair bit as far as car speed and can feel a bit more confident going into the big one.”