The streets of Surfers Paradise were dominated by the V8 Supercar drivers in round one of the Gold Coast 600.
In fact the former site of the IndyCar race was downright unfriendly to the visiting co-drivers.
The action came fast and furious as Ford's Luke Youlden heavily hit a wall going into the first turn of the race while trying an inside pass on Jacques Villeneuve who was then turned around at the second turn by Holden's Greg Ritter.
By lap four the tight Queensland resort town streets were jammed up like it was rush hour, claiming many famous names.
Garth Tander, in a Holden, took the checkers in the 300km, 120 lap race around the luxury high-rise apartments after championship points and race leader, James Courtney, got a drive through penalty with 10 laps to-go for erratic driving.
Craig Lowndes and his international co-driver Andy Priaulx finished in second place 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.
Priaulx was the highest placed international driver. He said: “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 tyre 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!”
Alex Tagliani finished 11th and Villeneuve finished 22nd, 29 laps down from the winner.
V8 Supercar Race Results
Armor All Gold Coast 600
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
Did not finish:
#16 T.Ricciardello/D.Wood - 93
#10 A.Thompson/M.Salo - 78
#3 Tiago Monteiro - 50
#30 Scott Pruett - 24
#12 Gianni Morbidelli - 1
#22 Will Davison
#6 Will Power
In fact the former site of the IndyCar race was downright unfriendly to the visiting co-drivers.
The action came fast and furious as Ford's Luke Youlden heavily hit a wall going into the first turn of the race while trying an inside pass on Jacques Villeneuve who was then turned around at the second turn by Holden's Greg Ritter.
By lap four the tight Queensland resort town streets were jammed up like it was rush hour, claiming many famous names.
Garth Tander, in a Holden, took the checkers in the 300km, 120 lap race around the luxury high-rise apartments after championship points and race leader, James Courtney, got a drive through penalty with 10 laps to-go for erratic driving.
Craig Lowndes and his international co-driver Andy Priaulx finished in second place 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.
Priaulx was the highest placed international driver. He said: “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 tyre 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!”
Alex Tagliani finished 11th and Villeneuve finished 22nd, 29 laps down from the winner.
V8 Supercar Race Results
Armor All Gold Coast 600
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
Did not finish:
#16 T.Ricciardello/D.Wood - 93
#10 A.Thompson/M.Salo - 78
#3 Tiago Monteiro - 50
#30 Scott Pruett - 24
#12 Gianni Morbidelli - 1
#22 Will Davison
#6 Will Power