After reversing yesterday’s front row of the grid in this morning’s qualifying session and starting from pole, Tander finished second to rival Jamie Whincup in the final 200km for the ITM 400 in Hamilton, New Zealand.

The 2007 V8 Supercar Champion led early, but was passed by Whincup on lap 10 before surviving a spectacular brush with the controversial Hamilton tyre barriers, Tander going on to record the same result as yesterday.

Will Davison had a better day in the #22 Toll HRT Commodore, first by qualifying eighth in this morning’s 20 minute all-in session, then finishing sixth in this afternoon’s race.

The result has given Davison a huge boost in confidence ahead of the next round at Queensland Raceway, Davison entering that event as the defending champion.

After not finishing yesterday’s race, Davison has slipped to 13th in series points but is only just over 150 points outside the top 10 with 18 races remaining in this year’s title race.

Series leader Whincup won today’s race to retain the Mark Porter Trophy, Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Michael Caruso third to give Holden a 1, 2, 3 to fill the podium.

Whincup’s win was also the ninth for Holden in the 10 years of the New Zealand round of the V8 Supercar Championship.

The next round of the championship is the City of Ipswich 300 at Queensland Raceway in two weeks (30 April – 2 May).

Garth Tander, #2 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE:

“We are fighting back [in the points race] as we said we would, but really the points are relative to the leader and that’s Jamie at the moment. We reduced the gap to him in Adelaide, but he got a few back off us this weekend, so we’re not considering the championship at the moment. We are approaching it on an event-by-event basis. I know that sounds boring and clichéd, but that’s how we have to treat it. We’re happy with our results this weekend, but we need to continue to work hard. We’re constantly tuning our car and we’ve got a few things coming which we believe will improve it. Queensland Raceway is next, it’s a track that’s been very good to me in the past and we’re using the soft tyres which our car was very good on last year, so we are looking forward to that race and seeing how we go.”

Will Davison, #22 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE:

“Today was definitely a better day for me, a good progression, but when you want to win it’s hard to get excited with sixth. We are definitely getting on top of things and moving forward. Our qualifying was better, we were close to the pace and my Toll HRT Commodore felt good. I had a solid race and the outright pace of the car was good, while its balance on fresh tyres was very good. We lacked a bit of tyre life and balance in the middle part, but were very strong on the fresh ones later. I caught Steven Johnson, but was probably too hard on the tyres and couldn’t quite get around him for fifth. We’re not jumping up and down about sixth, but I’m positive as the main thing is the car is feeling good again.”

Toll HRT's Garth Tander second in Hamilton The Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander finished second in today’s first race...

Tander tops the practice times in New Zealand The Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander has set the quickest time in practice...

Toll HRT's Tander and davison pay tribute to ANZACS in Hamilton, NZ The Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and Will Davison have paid tribute to...