Tander wins while Whincup leads the standings

GARTH Tander has taken out a bruising first race of the V8 Supercars round on Phillip Island.

GARTH Tander has taken out a bruising first race of the V8 Supercars round on Phillip Island.

In a race yesterday which featured two yellow flags and a heavyweight dust-up on the last corner before the half-way break as all four title-chasers were wounded, Holden driver Jamie Whincup returned to the top of the championship standings.

Tander steered clear of the mayhem to score his first win since Townsville in July and first on the Victorian island since 2009.

Fellow Holden pilot Fabian Coulthard was second while Ford's Alex Davison completed the podium.

Whincup took control of the title race by finishing in front of his rivals in fourth, well ahead of his grid position of 13.

A dogfight between Craig Lowndes and Mark Winterbottom defined the first half of the split race.

Heading into today's two races, Whincup now leads the championship on 2623 points, 14 clear of Lowndes with Winterbottom on 2535.

Tander was happy enough getting a boost from the feisty duel between Lowndes and Winterbottom before the break of the 28-lap battle.

"The seas parted and I thought thank you very much, I'll take that,'' he said.

"It was quite uninteresting for me which is how you like it.''

Coulthard agreed that the clash of the Holden and Ford veterans was pivotal. "We all benefitted from the Lowndes-Winterbottom incident,'' Coulthard said.

"It was a pretty action-packed race considering no points were on offer for the first (half).''

Winterbottom, starting on pole, was second to Lowndes by the first turn and fell to third on lap two - but the roles were reversed on the final corner.

Brought back to the pack by safety cars, Lowndes found himself on the outside of Winterbottom and ended up in the gravel.

During the race split, Lowndes said he thought they'd be able to race two abreast but Winterbottom was thinking of the championship.

"You don't want damage but at the same time you don't want to let him win . . . you're not gonna back off," Winterbottom said.

The biggest beneficiary was Tander, who skated through to the front, leaving Winterbottom in fourth and Lowndes back in 15th.

While Tander didn't look back, Lowndes could only finish in eighth, while Winterbottom was fifth.

Earlier, a nudge from Shane van Gisbergen all but ended Ford driver Will Davison's championship hopes.

Davison was turned around by van Gisbergen, labelled an "idiot" by Ford Performance Racing team boss Tim Edwards.

Whincup won out, slinking inside of the two to climb to sixth.

After the race restarted, Frenchman Alex Premat found himself careering through the gravel and crashing into the driver-side of James Courtney's Holden.

Such was the damage, Premat had to help a clearly shaken Courtney out from the passenger side.

Courtney was later cleared of serious injury but it ended the duo's day. 

It was a crash that had all the hallmarks of a tragedy.

When Premat's Holden veered off the circuit, through the gravel with no chance of stopping, it wasn't a matter of if, but who he would hit.

Courtney was the unfortunate V8 Supercars rival driver that happened to be in the way.

The two Holdens collided at high speed - with Premat's rear impacting squarely on Courtney's door, throwing the two cars in the air and scattering debris everywhere.

Premat responded instantly, helping extract Courtney through the passenger's side of his car.

Courtney was eventually able to limp away with assistance and later the medical team cleared him of serious injuries.

He was in good spirits and forgiving.

"I didn't see Alex coming, so I couldn't brace myself,'' Courtney said of the incident in the opening race of the weekend's penultimate round of the championship.

"I spoke with Alex in the medical car and said he had a tyre go down. He didn't mean to do that, no one would, so it's just unfortunate.''

And while Courtney will fight another day, his car will not.

"I think that may have ended it for my car though, its had a few big hits over the last three events.'

"I think that was the end, the final nail.''