Toll Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander completed a clean sweep of this weekend's V8 Supercar racing at Albert Park with victory in race three of the Sprint Gas V8 Supercars Manufacturers Challenge.

In a repeat of the first two races, Tander jumped clear at the start and was never headed, despite an early safety car, winning the race, the weekend overall and doing his part to ensure that Holden comfortably won the Manufacturers Challenge between the two V8 Supercar marques.

Second was Jim Beam Racing's Will Davison, who also finished second overall for the weekend, ahead of HSV Dealer Team driver Rick Kelly who was third in the race and for the weekend. Mark Skaife and Russell Ingall completed the top five, with the other standout performers being Steven Richards in sixth and Craig Lowndes in tenth.

The podium could have been looked though, with two other Fords in contention earlier in the race. On lap 2, Davison running second came under attack from Mark Winterbottom into turn 3.

Davison defended strongly but Winterbottom dived to the inside, and despite Davison continuing to squeeze, snuck through. Behind them, Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup, who had started the race on new tyres, saw all this happening ahead of him and saw an opportunity.

Using a wide entry into turn 3, he passed Davison and was alongside Winterbottom as they exited turn 3, getting his nose just ahead of Winterbottom as they entered turn 4 side-by-side.

Forced wide by Winterbottom on the exit, who himself had put half his car over the exit kerb at turn 4, Whincup moved back to the left to make the entry for turn 5. As he did so, Whincup and Winterbottom made light contact.

From this point in it seemed neither driver could prevent where they ended up. Whincup steered right to move away from Winterbottom's car, but Winterbottom also appeared powerless to move away from Whincup, his steering possibly breaking in what appeared relatively light contact.

The two cars remained stuck together before eventually breaking free, Whincup continuing while Winterbottom's car hit the wall on the entry to turn five.

This brought out the safety car, before the race resumed on lap 4. Soon after Whincup was given a drivethrough penalty for the incident, despite having been in front of Winterbottom at the point of contact and having been forced out wide by Winterbottom to begin with.

In the end, it made no difference as Whincup retired with a flat tyre on lap 5, almost certainly as a result of contact from the incident.

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Garth Tander Holden 34:44.3442
2. Will Davison Ford + 2.5336
3. Rick Kelly Holden + 4.3881
4. Mark Skaife Holden + 10.3802
5. Russell Ingall Holden + 12.0292
6. Steven Richards Ford + 13.2801
7. James Courtney Ford + 16.0228
8. Cameron McConville Holden + 17.1906
9. Steven Johnson Ford + 20.4395
10. Craig Lowndes Ford + 20.6562
11. Fabian Coulthard Ford + 22.3394
12. Lee Holdsworth Holden + 23.8584
13. Jason Richards Holden + 26.1626
14. Jason Bright Ford + 28.0707
15. Tony D'Alberto Holden + 28.6187
16. Greg Murphy Holden + 29.8347
17. Michael Caruso Holden + 30.6556
18. Todd Kelly Holden + 35.8069
19. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford + 41.5613
20. Michael Patrizi Ford + 41.9581
21. Shane Price Holden + 43.2882
22. Marcus Marshall Ford + 45.6128
23. Andrew Thompson Holden + 47.8736
24. Kayne Scott Ford + 54.1429
25. Andrew Jones Holden +1:22.2747

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Make Laps
Paul Morris Holden 6
Jamie Whincup Ford 4
Mark Winterbottom Ford 1

Garth Tander took victory in race two of the Sprint Gas V8 Supercars Manufacturers Challenge at Albert Park.

Tander again led from start to finish and though not able to open his lead as he did in race one, was never under threat throughout the 15 lap race.

Tander's win means he and Holden wil start from pole position for all three races this weekend.

Will Davison took his second consecutive second place despite race-long pressure from third place finisher Mark Winterbottom, with Rick Kelly and Jamie Whincup completing the top five, Mark Skaife using the safety car period brought out when Paul Dumbrell hit the turn 5 wall on lap 8 to close in on Whincup but was unable to pass.

Seventh place was taken by Cameron McConville after a battle with Steven Johnson, which may have seen McConville make contact with Johnson and send him off the track as he gained the place on lap 12, Johnson falling down the order to finish 15th.

There was contact elsewhere as well. Lap one saw contact between Shane van Gisbergen dive inside Shane Price in a repeat of the incident between Steven Richards and Craig Lowndes in race one. Van Gisbergen spun but continued, while Price retired soon after.

On lap four, Craig Lowndes, running 14th, came under attack from Todd Kelly at turn 13, with Kelly diving inside Lowndes but only making it about halfway, Lowndes spinning into the gravel while Kelly continued unscathed. Lowndes resumed but retired to the pits when his right rear tyre came off the wheel.

The final lap also saw contact at turn 13, this time on the exit as Greg Murphy and Marcus Marshall touched, ending with Murphy spinning hard into the inside wall. Stewards will likely look at all three incidents, with the last two likely to come under close scrutiny.

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Garth Tander Holden 37:45.8517
2. Will Davison Ford + 3.3329
3. Mark Winterbottom Ford + 3.4955
4. Rick Kelly Holden + 4.4226
5. Jamie Whincup Ford + 4.5511
6. Mark Skaife Holden + 5.3025
7. Cameron McConville Holden + 7.1337
8. Andrew Jones Holden + 8.6741
9. Russell Ingall Holden + 8.9321
10. Lee Holdsworth Holden + 9.9932
11. Jason Richards Holden + 10.5395
12. Steven Richards Ford + 11.2849
13. Todd Kelly Holden + 11.8127
14. James Courtney Ford + 12.2344
15. Steven Johnson Ford + 13.5158
16. Jason Bright Ford + 20.9433
17. Fabian Coulthard Ford + 21.8704
18. Michael Caruso Holden + 22.3072
19. Tony D'Alberto Holden + 22.6854
20. Paul Morris Holden + 22.9260
21. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford + 23.0761
22. Marcus Marshall Ford + 25.7189
23. Kayne Scott Ford + 26.0912
24. Andrew Thompson Holden + 26.6028

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Make Laps
Greg Murphy Holden 14
Michael Patrizi Ford 13
Craig Lowndes Ford 12
Paul Dumbrell Holden 7
Shane Price Holden 1

Garth Tander dominated race one of the Sprint Gas V8 Supercars Manufacturers Challenge at Albert Park as some of his rivals took each other out.

Tander got a good start and had already opened a gap by the time he exited turn one.

From there on he was never troubled, despite a late-race safety car period for tyre bundles on the circuit, Tander once again securing the left-hand side of the grid for all the Holdens.

The race was shortened by two laps because it had to be concluded by a specific time, having started about two minutes late. Even without the safety car, the race would still have finished a lap short of its 15 lap scheduled distance.

Will Davison took second place for Jim Beam Racing, after overtaking third-place finisher Rick Kelly for the place as they began lap two. Both drivers had just benefitted from contact between Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards at turn 15 at the end of lap one.

Richards dived down the inside at turn 15, and though Lowndes opened the door a little, it was not enough to prevent Richards making contact, both cars spun and Richards was lucky to avoid taking teammate Mark Winterbottom out in the process.

Richards retired to the pits with a flat tyre, while Lowndes dropped from second to 20th, recovering to 13th by race's end. Completing the top five finishers were Tander's teammate Mark Skaife and the aforementioned Winterbottom.

Behind them in sixth was Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup, who recovered from being edged off at turn 12 and falling to 14th to charge back up the order. In doing so, he made some aggressive passing moves, including a similar move to Richards at turn 15 but making side-to-side contact as he forced his way past Jason Richards.

He also made a diving move inside Russell Ingall after the restart on the final lap at turn four, the rear of Whincup's car and the front of Ingall's car making contact on the exit, causing Ingall to run very wide, eventually finishing 14th with possible steering damage.

James Courtney and Jason Bright were engaged in their own private duel just after half-distance, Courtney going through the inside of turn four after Bright half-spun Courtney as Courtney exited turn three.

Then, at turn fifteen Courtney ran wide, allowing Bright to sneak through, making light contact on the exit. As Bright entered turn 16, the final turn, Courtney dived for the inside but wasn't close enough to complete the pass, tipping Bright into a spin, Courtney given a drivethrough penalty for the contact.

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Garth Tander Holden 27:54.4393
2. Will Davison Ford + 2.5938
3. Rick Kelly Holden + 2.9461
4. Mark Skaife Holden + 3.3496
5. Mark Winterbottom Ford + 3.7003
6. Jamie Whincup Ford + 6.3947
7. Steven Johnson Ford + 6.9646
8. Cameron McConville Holden + 7.3975
9. Jason Richards Holden + 7.7918
10. Greg Murphy Holden + 8.0583
11. Lee Holdsworth Holden + 8.6749
12. Andrew Jones Holden + 8.8250
13. Craig Lowndes Ford + 9.0204
14. Russell Ingall Holden + 9.3946
15. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford + 9.4928
16. Todd Kelly Holden + 10.1952
17. Shane Price Holden + 11.5127
18. Tony D'Alberto Holden + 12.0291
19. Paul Dumbrell Holden + 12.2065
20. Fabian Coulthard Ford + 12.4057
21. Michael Patrizi Ford + 12.7831
22. Andrew Thompson Holden + 13.8012
23. Jason Bright Ford + 14.6502
24. James Courtney Ford + 14.9044
25. Michael Caruso Holden + 15.4333
26. Marcus Marshall Ford + 22.1015

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Make Laps
Paul Morris Holden 6
Kayne Scott Ford 5
Steven Richards Ford 0

Toll Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander scored first blood for Holden in this weekend's Sprint Gas V8 Supercars Manufacturers Challenge at Albert Park by taking pole position for himself and Holden.

Tander was over a quarter of a second faster than Team Vodafone's Craig Lowndes in today's top ten shootout, which comprised the top ten runners from yesterday's qualifying session.

By doing so, Tander has secured the left-hand side of the grid for all the Holden runners, as the manufacturers go head-to-head in this non-championship round which sees V8 Supercar teams and drivers return to the Albert Park track after a year away.

Behind Tander and Lowndes is Rick Kelly, with Steven Richards fourth fastest despite his huge off at Eastern Creek last weekend. Jason Richards, Will Davison are next, ahead of Mark Skaife who was fastest on Friday but was slower than teammate Tander before making a mistake, witth Mark Winterbottom, Cameron McConville and Steven Johnson completing the top ten.

V8 points leader Jamie Whincup will start 12th after his efforts to conserve tyres yesterday backfired somewhat, failing to make the top ten shootout. Just behind him in 14th and 15th are some more front-runners in James Courtney and Lee Holdsworth.

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Garth Tander Holden 1:58.2337
2. Craig Lowndes Ford 1:58.4953 + 0.2616
3. Rick Kelly Holden 1:59.0476 + 0.8139
4. Steven Richards Ford 1:58.7328 + 0.4991
5. Jason Richards Holden 1:59.1864 + 0.9527
6. Will Davison Ford 1:58.9980 + 0.7643
7. Mark Skaife Holden 1:59.7825 + 1.5488
8. Mark Winterbottom Ford 1:59.4490 + 1.2153
9. Cameron McConville Holden 1:59.9566 + 1.7229
10. Steven Johnson Ford 2:00.2959 + 2.0622
11. Russell Ingall Holden 1:59.2442 + 1.0105
12. Jamie Whincup Ford 1:59.2552 + 1.0215
13. Andrew Jones Holden 1:59.4939 + 1.2602
14. James Courtney Ford 1:59.2988 + 1.0651
15. Lee Holdsworth Holden 1:59.6715 + 1.4378
16. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford 1:59.3754 + 1.1417
17. Greg Murphy Holden 1:59.6851 + 1.4514
18. Jason Bright Ford 1:59.4549 + 1.2212
19. Paul Dumbrell Holden 1:59.8272 + 1.5935
20. Fabian Coulthard Ford 1:59.5730 + 1.3393
21. Todd Kelly Holden 1:59.9082 + 1.6745
22. Marcus Marshall Ford 2:01.0328 + 2.7991
23. Tony D'Alberto Holden 2:00.0081 + 1.7744
24. Michael Patrizi Ford 2:01.7018 + 3.4681
25. Paul Morris Holden 2:00.1834 + 1.9497
26. Kayne Scott Ford 2:02.1051 + 3.8714
27. Andrew Thompson Holden 2:00.3897 + 2.1560

29. Michael Caruso Holden 2:00.6498 + 2.4161

31. Shane Price Holden 2:00.8066 + 2.5729

Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom continued his climb up the order after a poor qualifying performance as he took victory in the final race of this weekend's V8 Supercar round at Eastern Creek.

Winterbottom wasn't affected by a safety car period very early in the race and another in the closing laps brought out by a heavy crash for his teammate, taking the win ahead of a consistent performance by 2005 series champion Rick Kelly.

Garth Tander, Jamie Whincup and Mark Skaife crossed the line covered by less than three tenths of a second at the chequered flag, the two Holden Racing Team cars recovering from their struggles in race two thanks to good starts and a longer pit strategy than some of the other frontrunners.

Whincup again had some trouble at the start, but had a quick pit stop to slot himself in just behind Will Davison who ran second in the early laps. But Davison's race took a turn for the worse when Tander exited his pit stop between Davison and Whincup, Davison running wide at the turn 2 hairpin, allowing both Tander and Whincup to sneak through.

However sixth for Davison was still good enough for him to secure his maiden round win, ahead of Winterbottom and Tander, each of the podium finishers for the weekend having taken a race win.

After jumping up to third in the opening laps, Russell Ingall faded through the race, finishing just ahead of Craig Lowndes who had a somewhat low-key weekend following his dramatic collision in the opening round.

After an impressive race two, Steven Richards looked set for a top five finish in race three. But as he ran through turn 3 on lap 24 something caused his left front tyre to deflate suddenly, sending him off the road at speed and head-on into the tyre wall, ending his race with a sudden halt.

With two rounds completed, Jamie Whincup remains in the points lead on 540 points, with Rick Kelly moving up to second, 108 points behind, six points ahead of Lee Holdsworth who slips to third.

After their disastrous weekend in Adelaide, a strong performance by both Holden Racing Team drives moves them both into the top ten, Tander on 326 points in eighth just four points ahead of Mark Skaife in ninth.

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Mark Winterbottom Ford 1:03:42.6526
2. Rick Kelly Holden + 0.8387
3. Garth Tander Holden + 2.2485
4. Jamie Whincup Ford + 2.3863
5. Mark Skaife Holden + 2.5415
6. Will Davison Ford + 3.5774
7. Russell Ingall Holden + 4.1721
8. Craig Lowndes Ford + 4.3554
9. Paul Dumbrell Holden + 4.7907
10. Greg Murphy Holden + 5.2057
11. Lee Holdsworth Holden + 5.5540
12. Cameron McConville Holden + 6.0150
13. Andrew Thompson Holden + 7.1043
14. Michael Caruso Holden + 7.4999
15. Todd Kelly Holden + 7.6114
16. Fabian Coulthard Ford + 8.5621
17. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford + 9.0892
18. Steven Johnson Ford + 9.1669
19. Jason Richards Holden + 9.5927
20. Jason Bright Ford + 10.0530
21. Shane Price Holden + 11.0664
22. Marcus Marshall Ford + 11.7419
23. Chris Pither Ford + 18.6145

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Make Laps
Steven Richards Ford 23
Andrew Jones Holden 6
Paul Morris Holden 1
James Courtney Ford 1
Tony D'Alberto Holden 0

Jim Beam Racing's Will Davison took his maiden V8 Supercar victory after he converted a rocket start into a win in race two at Eastern Creek.

Davison jumped into a clear lead at the start and despite Mark Winterbottom trailing him for most of the race, he was never under significant threat and eased away in the closing laps to take his first V8 Supercar win.

Winterbottom also made a good start to jump to third, moving up to second after the stops where he stayed to the flag, with Team Vodafone's Craig Lowndes five seconds further back in third place.

After qualifying 22nd, Russell Ingall looked like having a bad weekend at Eastern Creek. But a 12th in race one meant that a good start jumped him into sixth place by the end of lap one, and despite losing a place to Lowndes halfway through the race, finished just off the podium in fourth position.

However, Ingall seemed to benefit from the relaxed interpretation on allowable contact after making contact with the rear of Garth Tander's car when he passed him on lap 3, Ingall receiving a bad sportsmanship flag rather than a drivethrough penalty.

Just behind Ingall at the chequered flag was Jamie Whincup, who recovered well from a terrible start where he fell from third to tenth. But good work during the pit stop phase moved him up to before claiming fifth from Rick Kelly on lap 25 of 31.

Rick Kelly's sixth was a good result for him, but it could have been better. Second in the opening laps, a problem with the left rear wheel nut at his pit stop cost him about ten seconds, the same drama afflicting teammate Paul Dumbrell later in the race.

After qualifying 19th, and finishing race one 27th after spinning, Steven Richards might have felt like heading home. But by the end of lap one he was 21st, and he continued to move up well in the opening laps, 17th by lap five.

By not pitting until half-distance, he emerged from the pit stops in eighth place, passing Lee Holdsworth for seventh with six laps remaining.

After a perfect Saturday, Tander's Sunday has not started well. A poor start dropped him from first to fifth, before Ingall's contact droppped him another place.

Despite a couple of drivers ahead of him in the early laps having troubles during the race, Tander only just clung to the top ten, finishing ninth, two places worse than Steven Richards, despite Tander starting from pole and Richards starting from the final row

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Will Davison Ford 50:13.7164
2. Mark Winterbottom Ford + 2.6000
3. Craig Lowndes Ford + 7.7772
4. Russell Ingall Holden + 17.2869
5. Jamie Whincup Ford + 17.6198
6. Rick Kelly Holden + 22.2406
7. Steven Richards Ford + 22.8890
8. Lee Holdsworth Holden + 25.0556
9. Garth Tander Holden + 26.2420
10. Paul Morris Holden + 28.6032
11. Greg Murphy Holden + 40.2874
12. Paul Dumbrell Holden + 41.4789
13. Todd Kelly Holden + 45.0333
14. Mark Skaife Holden + 46.1037
15. James Courtney Ford + 47.8749
16. Jason Richards Holden + 49.3702
17. Fabian Coulthard Ford + 50.7429
18. Cameron McConville Holden + 51.7547
19. Steven Johnson Ford + 52.0178
20. Tony D'Alberto Holden + 59.6094
21. Shane Price Holden +1:00.4298
22. Jason Bright Ford +1:03.3681
23. Andrew Jones Holden +1:04.2745
24. Andrew Thompson Holden +1:06.3343
25. Chris Pither Ford +1:13.7157
26. Michael Caruso Holden +1:51.9523
27. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford + 5 laps

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Make Laps
Marcus Marshall Ford 29

Toll Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander scored a dominant win in race one at Eastern Creek after clearing away from the field at the start.

Tander got a clean start and never looked back, taking a comfortable win as Will Davison and Jamie Whincup scrapped throughout the race for second and third positions, Davison managing to hold on to the place despite Whincup's chase.

A couple of second behind Whincup was Rick Kelly in his HSV Dealer Team Commodore, with James Courtney a second and a half further back in fifth place.

After starting on the front row, a bad start for Mark Skaife saw him down to sixth place by turn 2 on lap one. From there he was unable to climb back up the order, and spent the final three-quarters of the race fending off a former teammate in the shape of Team Vodafone's Craig Lowndes, with Lee Holdsworth a second further back.

The top ten was completed by Greg Murphy and a recovering Mark Winterbottom, whose recovery after qualifying could've been even more impressive if an error had not incurred at his pitstop, which cost him nearly ten seconds.

Winterbottom's teammate Steven Richards had a better pitstop but then made contact with Cameron McConville who was struggling with understeer. McConville continued unscatherd but Richards spun himself around, eventually finishing 27th.

However, it was not all over for McConville, who was involved in contact four laps later with Paul Dumbrell, which dropped McConville from 11th down to 18th.

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Garth Tander Holden 50:19.8503
2. Will Davison Ford + 6.3693
3. Jamie Whincup Ford + 7.1501
4. Rick Kelly Holden + 9.3610
5. James Courtney Ford + 10.9399
6. Mark Skaife Holden + 14.0063
7. Craig Lowndes Ford + 14.5719
8. Lee Holdsworth Holden + 15.7528
9. Greg Murphy Holden + 19.3093
10. Mark Winterbottom Ford + 19.6069
11. Paul Dumbrell Holden + 36.5262
12. Russell Ingall Holden + 37.2908
13. Jason Richards Holden + 38.6015
14. Paul Morris Holden + 40.1691
15. Todd Kelly Holden + 41.7563
16. Fabian Coulthard Ford + 44.9047
17. Cameron McConville Holden + 47.2059
18. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford + 47.4768
19. Shane Price Holden + 48.4556
20. Jason Bright Ford + 50.2233
21. Steven Johnson Ford + 50.3388
22. Andrew Jones Holden + 52.7771
23. Tony D'Alberto Holden + 53.8377
24. Andrew Thompson Holden +1:12.3655
25. Michael Caruso Holden +1:28.6571
26. Marcus Marshall Ford + 1 lap
27. Steven Richards Ford + 1 lap
28. Chris Pither Ford + 1 lap

Reigning V8 Supercar champion Garth Tander topped the times in qualifying to take pole position for race one of this weekend's V8 Supercar round at Eastern Creek.

Tander repeated his session-topping form from leg two of qualifying to set the fastest time in the final leg with a 1:32.108, almost two tenths faster than the second-fastest car, that of Holden Racing Team teammate Mark Skaife who continued an eight-year streak of front row starts at the venue.

2006 series champion Rick Kelly was third fastest for the HSV Dealer Team, completing a Holden 1-2-3 at the head of the grid. The first Ford, in fourth, was Clipsal 500 victor Jamie Whincup, his Team Vodafone Falcon over four tenths slower than Tander's pole time.

Another strong performer in Adelaide, Cameron McConville, completes the top five, ahead of Will Davison, James Courtney and Lee Holdsworth who continues to impress for the Garry Rogers Valvoline Cummins team.

Team Vodafone's Craig Lowndes however just failed to make the top ten, and will start from 11th, just ahead of the Sprint Gas Racing duo of Jason Richards and Greg Murphy.

The biggest surprise of qualifying was the poor performance of Ford Performance Racing. Mark Winterbottom, who took four pole positions last season and qualified third two weeks ago in Adelaide, qualified 15th, four places better than his teammate Steven Richards in 19th.

Towards the rear of the grid 2005 champ Russell Ingall outpaced teammate Paul Morris at Supercheap Auto Racing, but still struggled and will start from 22nd position.

Pos Driver Make Time
1. Garth Tander Holden 1:32.1080
2. Mark Skaife Holden 1:32.2926 + 0.1846
3. Rick Kelly Holden 1:32.4431 + 0.3351
4. Jamie Whincup Ford 1:32.5097 + 0.4017
5. Cameron McConville Holden 1:32.7130 + 0.6050
6. Will Davison Ford 1:32.7527 + 0.6447
7. James Courtney Ford 1:32.7706 + 0.6626
8. Lee Holdsworth Holden 1:32.8409 + 0.7329
9. Paul Dumbrell Holden 1:33.4414 + 1.3334
10. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford 1:33.5298 + 1.4218
11. Craig Lowndes Ford 1:32.9004 + 0.7924
12. Jason Richards Holden 1:32.9008 + 0.7928
13. Greg Murphy Holden 1:32.9631 + 0.8551
14. Fabian Coulthard Ford 1:33.1648 + 1.0568
15. Mark Winterbottom Ford 1:33.2059 + 1.0979
16. Steven Johnson Ford 1:33.2060 + 1.0980
17. Jason Bright Ford 1:33.2151 + 1.1071
18. Todd Kelly Holden 1:33.2217 + 1.1137
19. Steven Richards Ford 1:33.2417 + 1.1337
20. Shane Price Holden 1:33.5257 + 1.4177
21. Andrew Jones Holden 1:33.4211 + 1.3131
22. Russell Ingall Holden 1:33.4562 + 1.3482
23. Michael Caruso Holden 1:33.5276 + 1.4196
24. Tony D'Alberto Holden 1:33.6992 + 1.5912
25. Paul Morris Holden 1:33.7036 + 1.5956
26. Andrew Thompson Holden 1:34.1044 + 1.9964
27. Chris Pither Ford 1:34.3881 + 2.2801
28. Marcus Marshall Ford 1:34.7003 + 2.5923

Australian V8 Supercar boss Wayne Cattach has called for a detailed review of the cars' safety after Ashley Cooper was killed in a support race at Adelaide on Sunday.

He admitted that the series may have to consider a switch to purpose-built racers, rather than the current production-based cars.

"If there was supporting evidence to do that, then I guess we would," he told Australian newspaper the Herald Sun.

"It would be a big exercise, to start with a clean sheet of paper but it might be something we need to consider if we are in any way unsure of the strength and safety of our cars."

But Cattach wants to wait until investigations show that improvements need to be made before jumping the gun.

"At the moment there's nothing on the drawing board to affect that. I think the cars have, by and large, protected the drivers well. If you look at some of the colossal crashes we've had over time with very little injury, that's a testament to the strength of the cars."

He would also want any changes to keep the series more in line with DTM than NASCAR.

"We want to keep the cars in a form that gives our manufacturers the chance to market them. We wouldn't want to go down the NASCAR route, but have them as a silhouette of the road car."

The safety of the cars was called into question after Cooper suffered fatal head and internal injuries when his Holden Commodore slammed side on into the barrier at turn eight.

"We've had a look at the footage and it appears that his car may have clipped the guard rail on entry to the corner," said Cattach. "There's nothing we can find to indicate any failure of the seat, HANS, straps, or roll cage."

Cooper is the second driver to be killed in a V8 Supercar since 2006, when Mark Porter suffered fatal injuries in the support race at Bathurst.

Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series driver Ashley Cooper died today, following a crash during one of the main support races of the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar event in the Adelaide Parklands.

Cooper, from Ulladulla, New South Wales, was competing in the second V8 Supercar Development Series race when he appeared to clip the inside of the turn eight sweeper before sliding sideways into the wall on the exit, hitting the wall at over 200 km/h, before spinning to the inside of the circuit.

He was removed from the car and taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with critical injuries, including severe head trauma, swelling of the brain and internal injuries. However, he succumbed to his injuries in hospital today.

Australia's motorsport governing body CAMS issued a statement about Cooper's passing, with CAMS President Colin Osborne commenting that Cooper's passing was something that would be felt by the entire Australian motorsport community.

"Firstly our thoughts and sympathies go to Ashley's family and friends, particularly his wife Casey and two children and parents Alan and Maree," said Osborne.

"It is always a very sad day when any member of the motor sport community is taken from us. The motor racing community involves a close knit group of competitors and officials and I know that everyone will be feeling the loss of Ashley.

"CAMS will conduct its own full independent investigation to determine the circumstances leading to the incident. In the mean time, CAMS and event officials are working with the relevant civil authorities to assist with their investigations."

It is the second fatality as the result of a crash in the V8 Supercar's support series in the last two years. In October 2006, New Zealand driver Mark Porter died following injuries he sustained in a multi-car crash at Mount Panorama Bathurst.

The turn the accident occurred at was reprofiled in 2002 into its current fast sweeper configuration after drivers complained that the original configuration, which included several large kerbs and was tighter and slower, was too dangerous.

Cooper's crash was not the only major crash during the weekend's racing. The most serious of them was during the final V8 Utes race, when there was a multi-car collision exiting the Senna Chicane, with Holden driver Matt Kingsley the most seriously injured, currently in intensive care with a suspected spinal injury.

There was also a rollover in the Formula Three race when Samantha Reid spun at the hairpin under brakes, and Chris Reindler flipped after tripping over her rear wheel, not forgetting the three-car collision between the front-running Fords in the second race of the Clipsal 500 event itself.