HRT Race Highlights:
• For the start of Race 7 Courtney qualified in 13th and Tander 20th.
• Tander had another explosive start and gained five places off the line. In an earlier interview today Tander joked he would overtake Courtney by turn four despite being a lot further back on the grid. His prediction was almost spot-on as he was just one place behind his team mate in 13th at the end of the opening lap.
• Tander was the first of the HRT cars to pit for fuel and tyres, and when he re-joined the race he immediately went into battle with Holdsworth who was hot on his heels.
• Once all first pit stops had been completed Courtney was just inside the top 10 and Tander was in lucky 13th position.
• On lap 14 Courtney made his way around T Kelly and was hunting down Van Gisbergen and R Kelly who were immediately ahead. He made a bold move just two laps later to pass the kiwi.
• Carefully calculating his next assault he overtook the other Kelly brother not long later.
• Tander was still struggling with car balance and on his second stop the crew not only changed tyres and added fuel, they made an adjustment to the front of his car to try and improve the handling.
• With just 12 laps remaining Waters punctured a tyre which sent debris flying down the front straight creating a hazard for the cars behind. The first safety car of the weekend was called while crews cleared the track.
• While the safety car was still circulating, Bright was stopped at turn four with a problem and had to be towed off the track.
• The race resumed with just seven laps remaining and Courtney had Caruso in his sights. He was almost past him on lap 41 but wasn’t able to complete the move.
• There was the usual last minute jostling for positions as the laps counted down until finally Courtney crossed the finish line in 7th and Tander 16th.
• On the Championship points table Tander is placed 8th overall and Courtney 9th.

Thoughts on the day:
Adrian Burgess, Managing Director
“It wasn’t a great weekend, we managed to get James up to 7th today and he looked fairly pacey on the second set of tyres. But the last set of tyres clearly weren’t as good and the progress halted there.”

“GT’s car just wasn’t balanced all day and it wasn’t a particularly comfortable race car for him. So we have to apologise to the boys and our fans, and we need to go away and do a better job.”