In what will go down in history as one of the greatest V8 Supercar races ever, Toll Holden Racing’s Garth Tander has won the second leg of the Clipsal 500 Adelaide this afternoon (Sunday).

The 90,000 spectators held their collective breath as Tander – with very little fuel left in his tank – hung on to finish ahead of a charging Jim Beam Racing’s James Courtney, and Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom.

It was a race that had everything, including a brave fuel strategy, a controversial black flag, late rain and a broken kerb at the dangerous turn eight.

Tander and TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup swapped the lead for most of the 250-kilometre race, while Courtney was on a different fuel strategy after pitting early, but was showing incredible pace throughout his middle stint.

However, it all came down to the last 20 laps when a kerb at turn eight broke up causing a safety car period.

The five ensuing laps under the safety car was the break Tander needed as he was unlikely to have made it to the end of the race with the fuel he had left in his tank under normal racing conditions.

When the race was re-started it created a sprint to the end with Tander tight on fuel, Whincup okay on fuel but struggling on old tyres and Courtney looking good on both fuel and tyres, while Winterbottom was also in the mix.

Light rain added spice to the action as it caused Tander to slip on a wet painted white line allowing Whincup momentarily into the lead, before the former took control again.

Courtney gave Whincup a nudge causing a piece of the #1 TeamVodafone Commodore to come loose.

Whincup was subsequently black-flagged, but the part flew clear before he could head to the pits. However, under racing rules once a black flag has been displayed it can’t be rescinded until the car returns to pitlane for an inspection.

TeamVodafone principal Roland Dane was furious with what became a farcical situation.

“It’s difficult to accept. The rule is nonsense. They will have to have another look at it all,” he said.

“From a sport’s point of view we have just made ourselves look ridiculous in front of all of these people and to all of the people watching at home.

“Clearly the part had come off the car and yet you are called in to have a look at it when you know perfectly well that there is nothing wrong with it.”

Meanwhile, Tander admitted that the late-race safety car played into his hands.

“When we didn’t stop for a third stop when that safety car came out we were certainly rolling the dice; we were hoping that safety car period was going to go a couple of laps and it went a couple of laps longer than we needed. It was tight; there is not a lot of fuel left in the tank now,” he said.

Courtney applauded the efforts of his crew for helping him come through the field to eventually finish second. He should have started fourth but his fastest time in qualifying was excluded when he was deemed to have illegally kerb hopped.

“My guys did an awesome job to get us back from ninth to second this weekend – it’s just a shame that in qualifying I got that lap taken off me because it would have been a lot easier day starting at the front, but everything went smoothly... I think I passed about 300 cars out there,” he said.

Winterbottom said he was planning to shout the bar after costing his team a possible victory by stalling in the pits and smacking a wall at turn eight.

“I made a few mistakes today… I think the car was good enough today but the driver made a few errors. I owe the boys a few beers tonight because they gave me the car to win today,” he said.

Whincup still holds the Championship lead, but Winterbottom has closed the gap, while Tander has fought back to 11th.

Tander believes he still needs some more good results before he is back in the title chase after his poor start to the season in the Middle East.

“We still need to have quite a few results like we had this weekend to continue to fight back… we don’t expect to be back anywhere near the hunt until the endurance races,” he said.

Top 10 Championship positions

Jamie Whincup Commodore 771
Mark Winterbottom Falcon 714
James Courtney Falcon 696
Shane van Gisbergen Falcon 630
Lee Holdsworth Commodore 573
Craig Lowndes Commodore 552
Rick Kelly Commodore 530
Paul Dumbrell Falcon 489
Michael Caruso Commodore 462
Steve Johnson Falcon 455