HSV DT wraps up 2005 in style with another double podium
Press Release
Holden Special Vehicles Dealer Team wrapped up the 2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series with its second successive double podium, in the BigPond Grand Finale at Phillip Island.
Garth Tander followed up his recent Symmons Plains victory with second place behind Marcos Ambrose in the Phillip Island triple-header this weekend. His team-mate, Rick Kelly, joined him on the podium, in third place.
It was a great finish to the season for the team, which had been determined to wrap up the season strongly after a slow start to the year. Clearly, HSV DT is the form Holden team of the moment, having led the red force in recent rounds.
The plan is to carry that momentum into 2006, with the support of new major sponsor Toll.
Both HSV DT drivers gained a championship place with their weekend performances. Tander moved up to sixth place, while Kelly moved up from ninth to eighth.
Over the course of the meeting, Tander scored two second places and a fourth to finish just six points behind Ambrose. Kelly scored two fourths and a third to clinch third place overall.
Tander set the fastest lap in Sunday morning’s Race 2 on his way to second place behind Ambrose, with Craig Lowndes third.
Kelly fought an absorbing duel with championship winner Russell Ingall during the second half of the race, keeping the Ford driver behind him to seal fourth place.
On the start of Race 3, Kelly swooped into third place with a slingshot start.
He gained another place when Craig Lowdnes received a drive-through penalty for a pit stop infringement.
Kelly held second place until the final two laps when Greg Murphy lunged under him and into third place. But with a podium all but assured, Kelly was happy to take third place in both the race and the round. It was his third podium for the season.
Tander, who had made a blinding start in race one, had a less successful launch from the grid in Race 3, slipping back to sixth place. However, Tander worked his back into fourth place where he too had a duel with Ingall over the closing laps. Again, the HSV DT driver won the battle and grabbed second place overall. For Tander, it was his fourth podium for 2005. The tally included his first round victory in five years, in Tasmania.
The V8 Supercar hostilities resume at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on March 23-26.
#16 Garth Tander (Race 2 – 2nd; Race 3 – 4th; Round 2nd, 182pts; Championship – 6th, 1734pts): “I think we had the car to win this weekend, but I think we out-smarted ourselves a bit with tyre strategy and pit stops and whatnot yesterday and this morning. Then we did not have the tyre grip to capitalise on the position we had on the grid. Obviously, anything less than a win after Symmons Plains was going to be a downer, but I guess we were the form Holden team for the last couple of rounds of the championship and we look like being the form Holden team going into next year’s championship. Who would have thought that , after the start we had this year, that we would end up being the team trying to win the Manufacturers Championship for Holden. It has been a great job by the guys to get us in a position where we are consistently on the podium in the second half of the season. So, many thanks to them. And look out next year.”
#15 Rick Kelly (Race 2 – 4th; Race 3 – 3rd; Round – 3rd, 176pts; Championship – 8th, 1630pts): “It was a tough battle in the last two races. I managed to keep Russell behind me in the second one but unfortunatey I couldn’t keep Murph behind me in the third one. Nevertheless, this weekend we have managed to jump to eighth in the championship and get a podium. A podium from both cars is pretty impressive, I think, considering the year both Garth and myself have had. To see how competitive and close our cars are now is a credit to the guys. Our team is probably only up there because they work so well together. They are probably the closest knit group of all of pit lane. And that’s what is going to win us the championship next year.".