• The Holden Racing Team had a trouble-free lead up to the today’s 161 lap race having completed six practice sessions, a qualifying session and a Top Ten Shootout across the opening three days.
• Car #2 made yesterday’s hotly contested Top Ten Shootout and Tander bettered his team’s 9th place qualifying result to start the ‘Great Race’ in 8th. Car #22 started in 16th.
• Both main drivers took the first driving stint, and while anticipation was at its peak they both had a clean start with Garth up to 5th straight out of the gate. Courtney also made a solid start and moved up to 13th on the opening lap.
• The early stages of the race saw the line of traffic hustle for positions as the drivers settled into a rhythm and brought brake and tyre temperatures up.
• With 15 laps completed Tander was comfortably placed in 7th and the crew called him in for his first stop; Tander handed over driving duties to Luff. There was a small delay when the car dropped as Luff secured his seat belts before leaving the pit box which saw them lose some track position.
• Courtney was called in for his stop on lap 17 after weaving his way up to 9th place in his opening stint. He too vacated his seat for Perkins to take over.
• Car #22’s second stop came on lap 34 with fuel filled and a change of rubber. Car #2 followed with its second pit stop just two laps later. Both Perkins and Luff remained in the cars.
• Perkins was frustrated and calling for blue flags on lap 46 when car #360, which was 1.3 laps down, was blocking him from passing. He managed to get around on turn two of the following lap, hoping he hadn’t lost too much valuable time. At this point of the race Perkins was positioned in 8th and Luff 13th.
• At the half way point of the race, not one safety car had been called which was one of the longest non-safety car periods in a Bathurst race in since its introduction in 1987. Both HRT cars had completed four of their seven compulsory pit stops and were trucking along nicely with good car speed and co-drivers back behind the wheel. One car was out of the race from damage caused by a broken rocker and there had been plenty of mechanical issues for others.
• With 91 laps down the first safety was finally required when car #8 went into the wall just before skyline, between turns 10 and 11. Both HRT cars were called to pit but avoided ‘double stacking’ due to the gap between them. Only car #2 did a driver change which put Tander back behind the wheel. Perkins hadn’t completed his minimum number of laps so was forced to stay put and press on. At the restart Perkins was 6th and Tander 11th.
• Garth was hungry for positions and within two laps had made his way up to 9th. Perkins was overtaken by a number of cars through the chase and down the main straight, and had dropped to 12th.
• On lap 109 car #34 suffered an engine failure on Mountain Straight and in a cloud of flames and smoke stopped on the side of the track. Again both HRT cars were called for a pit stop and it was Tander who was first in for service. Perkins was double stacked but only for a short period; Courtney jumped back in the car and headed out to find the safety car queue. At the restart Tander was 7th and Courtney 16th. With the laps counting down fuel was becoming an increasingly important factor in the race, Courtney was asked to conserve.
• Tander had another thundering re-start gliding past McLaughlin into 6th, while Courtney wasn’t holding back either moving up two places to 14th.
• Within minutes of the re-start another safety car was called when car #3 stopped on the circuit and again both HRT cars were called in for fuel. With the stops only short Tander had already vacated the pit box by the time Courtney pulled up.
• Winterbottom fired it into the sand trap at The Chase on lap 133 and a safety car made yet another appearance. Tander and Courtney both pitted and were instructed to fuel save.
• With the retrieval of Winterbottom’s car a slow process, the team chose to pit both cars once more to top up with fuel in hope of making it to the end of the race. Tander narrowly jumped both Whincup and Davison in pit lane and had only Coulthard and McLaughlin (who had a lap less fuel than Tander) ahead of him for position.
• Courtney was investigated for driving too slowly under the safety car and eventually copped a Pit Lane Penalty which dropped him back to 17th.
• It was an intense final 20 laps as it all came down to fuel strategy. Who could conserve the most? Who could make it to the end?
• With 14 laps to go Courtney’s cool suit failed but he was able to get to the end of the race.
• Coulthard needed to pit for fuel, so it was all eyes on the three frontrunners: Whincup, Tander and McLaughlin. They were all hungry for position and as they hurtled towards The Chase McLaughlin was pushed off the track by Whincup and he detoured off-track and across the sand. Whincup appeared to redress the situation but it was done so on Tander’s racing line. In an attempt to avoid Whincup, Tander moved right as McLaughlin was re-entering the track. Tander was sandwiched. He crashed into the side of McLaughlin, spun and the two both hit the wall heavily. In a heartbreaking second the race was over for Tander and McLaughlin while Whincup continued unfazed and into 1st position.
• It was little constellation for HRT but Whincup was handed a 15 second time penalty which ruled him out of podium contention.
• With just five laps remaining the safety car was called when R Kelly hit a tyre wall but that wasn’t the end of the drama. With three laps remaining Courtney was caught up in an incident at the chase which resulted with a car in the sand trap. Luckily it didn’t effect Courtney’s position and he crossed the finish line in 13th.

Garth Tander, #2 Holden VF Commodore:
“It was a disappointing end to what was looking like a promising race. It’s a shame we got caught in other people’s dramas and you would expect more from a six time champion and a four time winner of this race. To drive the way he did was disappointing.”

“I can’t change the result but at least it shows we were in for the win, we had plenty of fuel up our sleeve and we could have pressed on to the end but it just wasn’t to be.”

Adrian Burgess, Managing Director:
“Clearly we are all a bit devastated. We didn’t have the quickest car this weekend but we’ve got a bloody good team here and we bought ourselves a ticket to the last 20 laps with Luffy and GT. We were in a good position and we were good on fuel. Those around us were definitely in a lot more pain than we were and we get taken out by someone’s ambitious manoeuvrer and someone else’s dangerous re-entry.”

“But this is Bathurst and they don’t call it heartbreak hill for nothing. We are all gutted but this is motorsport, we’ll pick ourselves up and go to the Gold Coast with a spring in our step and try and repeat what we did there last year.”