Tander wins Race 14 at the Townsville 400

Garth Tander has taken victory in Race 14 of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship in Townsville.

Starting from fifth on the grid, Tander showed strong pace over his first two stints on the hard tyre – taking track position from Mark Winterbottom, Will Davison and Jamie Whincup by being one of the first to take a second set of hard tyres on the first round of stops.

Tander then moved past the only two drivers to start on the soft tyre, David Reynolds and Paul Dumbrell, in the second stint, before emerging from the last stops 4s in front of Whincup.

The 2007 champion pulled away fromWhincup for much of the soft tyre stint, before easing home to win by 3.3s in a race devoid of Safety Car periods.

Will Davison hung on for third after an intense final lap battle with a fast-finishing Craig Lowndes.

Mark Winterbottom, Lee Holdsworth, Rick Kelly, Steve Owen, Jason Bright and Russell Ingall rounded out the top 10.

Shane van Gisbergen recovered to 11th after being turned around by team-mate Tim Slade at Turn 13 of the opening lap.

It was a difficult race for Stone Brothers Racing, with Slade and Alex Davison both losing several laps with broken axles.

Twelfth was Paul Dumbrell, who had emerged from the final round of stops in fourth but was powerless to defend his position on the harder tyre.

As the only other driver to start the race with the soft, Reynolds blasted his way from seventh on the grid to the lead by Lap 6.

The Stratco Commodore was over 11s in-front before the end of the first stint, but a broken alternator soon put paid to a strong result.

James Courtney’s chances ended in more spectacular fashion – the Toll HRT Commodore riding over Reynolds’s right-rear wheel and breaking a steering arm when the pair made contact as Reynolds attempted to pit.

Warren Luff joined Courtney on the retirements list – the Gulf Western Commodore driver suffering a right-rear suspension failure on Lap 65 of 72.

Jason Bargwanna was also in the wars, suffering a broken watts linkage after being hit by an out of control Jonathan Webb at Turn 2 on Lap 35. Webb, who dropped to the back of the pack after a poor start, received a drive-through penalty for his part in the incident and finished 21st.

The win for Tander was not without controversy, with the HRT Commodore driver escaping penalty for hitting the pit-entry marker on Lap 49.

See below for the provisional Race 14 result