Frenetic Day 2 of Armor All Gold Coast 600

Day two of the Armor All Gold Coast 600 has delivered all of the breath-taking action anticipated to a crowd of 60,116 fans on the streets of the Gold Coast. The battles started from the very start of the race, with frenetic racing from start to finish ensuring the crowd was kept entertained from start to finish across the 300 kilometer, 120 lap stanza.

The action was kicked off spectacularly with lap one seeing all of the racers fire up right away, with many of the cars caught up in a lap four traffic jam after Jacques Villeneuve spun shortly after battling with Luke Youlden against the concrete walls, and finished by a lead-changing driver through penalty for James Courtney with just 10 laps to go.

In the end, it was the Holden Racing Team?s Garth Tander and Cameron McConville who stood on the top step of the podium, joined by TeamVodafone?s Craig Lowndes and his international co-driver Andy Priaulx in second and Stone Brothers Racing?s Shane van Gisbergen and John McIntrye in third.

The car had plenty of speed today, we were looking forward to coming here, the car has traditionally been good here and we like this place,? said Tander.

The car was excellent in qualifying, it just got better and better and then the race was amazing, Cameron did a great job with the start of the race, he had that issue with the ten second penalty and he was able to get up there and just pulled away.

There are plenty of sick cars up and down pit lane right now, so to get this win is quite good, I am looking forward to tomorrow, there is heaps of rubber on the track now so qualifying tomorrow is going to be fun!?

The United Kingdom?s Andy Priaulx was the highest placed international driver, claiming second with TeamVodafone and Craig Lowndes after managing to get through the early lap one chaos.

It means a lot, I?ve never been able to get in a good position with these cars, they are really hard to drive, but to come here and race with Craig has been special, I have been able to get comfortable in the car straight away and hopefully I can try and help Craig with the championship with good results,? said Priaulx.

The start was very interesting, I saw the Ford being pushed to run right up against the wall first, which looked pretty interesting so I went to the left, and then I saw Jacques spinning and some tire smoke so I went in early and he was spinning right near me, and I was able to get clear but it was quite interesting there for about 10 seconds!?

Also on track today were the Pirtek Australian Legends, who were a crowd favorite hosting a legion of fans through their pit area and at their autograph session during the day. Tomorrow, the category will recreate the infamous one-two 1997 Bathurst of Colin Bond and Allan Moffat right here on the Gold Coast streets, as part of their 11.40am on-track session.

Also racing today were the support categories of the Yokahama V8 Utes, the Hertz MINI Challenge and the Genuine Ford Parts Australia Formula Ford Championship.

In the Utes, it was New Zealander Chris Pither who took out the race one honors ahead of West Australia?s Grant Johnson and New South Wales David Sieders, with the Aussie muscle to enjoy two more races tomorrow.

In the MINI pocket rockets, race two saw local Paul Stokell took the win ahead of Victorian Sean Carter and Gold Coaster Beric Lynton, with the category to enjoy a third and final race tomorrow morning.

In Formula Ford, Chaz Mostert took two wins today, with race one seeing him cross the finish line ahead of Victoria?s Cameron Waters and Queensland?s Ashely Walsh before race two saw South East Queensland?s Nick Foster and Geoff Uhrane before race two take second and third respectively.

The Armor All Gold Coast 600 action continues tomorrow with support category racing from 9.00am before qualifying for race 20 of the V8 Supercars Championship Series gets underway at 11.00am. The Pirtek Australian Legends will then return to the track for one last time this weekend, incorporating the recreation of the 1977 Bathurst 1-2 of Bond and Moffat during their 11.40am session. The Ute Series will then take to the track for their final race before the pre-race entertainment fires up and the V8 Supercars get on track for the final race of the weekend at 1.35pm.

Tickets for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 are available at the gate ? please visit www.goldcoast600.com.au for ticket and event information.

Results

1. #2 G.Tander/C.McConville – 102 laps
2. #888 C.Lowndes/A.Priaulx
3. #9 S.Van Gisbergen/J.McIntyre
4. #34 M.Caruso/P.Long
5. #4 A.Davison/D.Brabham
6. #1 J.Whincup/S.Owen
7. #14 J.Bright/A.Menu
8. #19 J.Webb/S.Bourdais
9. #21 K.Reindler/F.Giovanardi
10. #18 J.Courtney/W.Luff
11. #11 J.Bargwanna/A.Tagliani
12. #39 R.Ingall/J.Perkins
13. #51 G.Murphy/Y.Muller
14. #15 R.Kelly/O.Kelly
15. #8 J.Richards/A.Jones
16. #17 S.Johnson/D.Franchitti
17. #24 F.Coulthard/D.Reynolds – 101
18. #47 T.Slade/H.Castroneves
19. #33 L.Holdsworth/G.Ritter
20. #7 T.Kelly/S.Dixon
21. #5 M.Winterbottom/L.Youlden – 94
22. #55 P.Dumbrell/J.Villeneuve – 91
DNF #16 T.Ricciardello/D.Wood – 93
DNF #10 A.Thompson/M.Salo – 78
DNF #3 Tiago Monteiro – 50
DNF #30 Scott Pruett – 24
DNF #12 Gianni Morbidelli – 1
DNF #22 Will Davison
DNF #6 Will Power