The Toll Holden Racing Team’s Will Davison has finished sixth in today’s final race for the Gulf Air Desert 400 in Bahrain, while the luck that deserted Garth Tander in Abu Dhabi a week ago, deserted the 2007 V8 Supercar Champion again today.

After making significant changes to his Toll HRT Commodore overnight, Davison started the day on the right foot, qualifying on the second row of the grid with the fourth best time in the 20 minute all-in – Tander just three spots further back.

Davison raced hard in the early stages of the race, at one point in the first of three stints running second, before the #22 Commodore struggled with pace after the first of two pit stops – the team electing to swap two tyres only.

All four tyres were changed at the final stop and Davison’s car was transformed

For Tander, his day began solidly with a seventh best qualifying effort, but it quickly turned sour in the race, the #2 Toll HRT Commodore spun in a melee at the first corner, lap 1.

Tander eventually crossed the line some 45 seconds behind then race leader Mark Winterbottom and showed excellent speed for most of the next 34 laps.

Then, just two laps from home, Tander passed the Falcon of Steven Richards, only to be immediately re-passed, Richards’ car colliding with the side of the Tander’s, the impact breaking the steering and Tander failing to finish – his second ‘DNF’ in four races this season.

Reigning Champion Jamie Whincup won the race, his fourth straight of the year, from Mark Winterbottom and Shane van Gisbergen.

Whincup already holds a solid 57 point lead over Winterbottom, van Gisbergen 72 points further back. Davison is 345 points behind Whincup, Tander 420 points from the lead.

The Toll HRT now heads home to Australia to begin preparations for the first race of the 2010 season on domestic soil, the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide in just two weeks.

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

“After a reasonable qualifying session, the day didn’t turn out the way we’d hope for. The first lap I got turned around by the same car that turned me around in Abu Dhabi – it’s a bit of a common trend and guys like that, that have been in the series long enough should know better. We had changed the car for the race and it was fantastic – at the end of the first lap I was 45 seconds behind the leader and with two laps to go the gap was the same, so we had very good car speed. Then I passed Richo cleanly on the inside and he ‘over and under-ed’ me, which is cool, but then he just ran me straight off the track – his rear wheel hit my front wheel and broke the steering and that was that! It was frustrating because if you pass someone cleanly and they pass you back that’s racing, but have the courtesy of doing it cleanly. The team didn’t get the result it deserved and it’s hurt us in the championship, so we forget about that now. I’ve never won a race in Adelaide, so the focus is to go there and win both races. We’ve got two marquee events coming up in Adelaide and Hamilton so we’ll go on an event by event basis and go for the wins.”

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

“All in all I’m really satisfied with today and proud of everyone on the Toll Holden Racing Team for all the hard work and effort they put in to step forward from last week and yesterday. We tried some pretty big things on the car today and I was happy with my qualifying and, to be honest, also with the race I drove. It’s just disappointing we were back in sixth. The first stint I got into second, but the second stint was like yesterday when we put just two tyres on at the stop and lost all balance. We lost time there, but we again came home strong. We’re still not quite there, but we’re closer. I’m satisfied with my performance today, but you want to give more back to the team because they’ve worked really hard. In a way it’s been a good weekend for everyone and now we’re all looking forward to getting home, then getting to Clipsal where I’ve got great memories of last year. We’ll go there full of confidence and, in a way, it’s good to be in an attacking position as if we’ve got car speed I’ll be super aggressive.”