No one was more surprised than the Holden Racing Team (HRT) drivers after they completed their first V8 Supercars quinella in four years in Townsville.
But HRT’s Garth Tander and James Courtney have hinted they would be alarmed if they fell out of the winners’ circle again any time soon.
Tander pulled off a remarkable tyre and fuel strategy to claim line honours in Sunday’s 200km race in north Queensland, ending 21 months of frustration since his third Bathurst 1000 triumph in 2011.
Fellow ex-V8 champion Courtney finished close behind, ensuring the factory-backed HRT sealed their first 1-2 finish since Sandown in 2009.
And it seemed few were more bewildered than the winning duo after enduring a disastrous practice session in Townsville on Friday.
Courtney revealed they had to throw away plans to use a new suspension package in north Queensland after an eventful practice, forcing HRT to fly in their previously used shock absorber units from their Melbourne base on Friday night.
“We couldn’t run the ultimate package we wanted to run here this weekend,” he said, adding that car had been better for both of them.
“It looked after its tyres a bit better (on the previous shock absorbers). I’m sure we are both a little shocked that we are still sitting here (on the podium) with the set-up we were running with the car.”
Still, Courtney expected HRT to come back bigger and better – starting at the next round in Ipswich from July 26-28.
“We’ve got some more time up our sleeves to go back to (Melbourne team base) Clayton and re-engineer that part and throw it back in,” he said.
“I’m sure we’ll come out all guns blazing at Ipswich.”
Tander (1302pts) moved two spots up the V8 championship ladder to sixth with his rare win, but still trails series leader Jamie Whincup by 289 despite his horror weekend up north.
Whincup in Townsville failed to qualify in the top 10 for the first time this season and had to settle for placings of seventh and 11th in the weekend’s two 70-lap races respectively.
While Tander did not predict they had waved the magic wand in Townsville, he believed they would now cause problems for fellow title threats for the second half of the season.
“We couldn’t run some componentry in the car this weekend due to reliability issues. It would have made the car better again,” Tander warned.
“One win doesn’t make it all bright and shiny and we are going to win all the races for the rest of the year – we know there is more work to be done.”