# 2009 Tasmania Challenge

The 2009 Falken Tasmania Challenge was the fourth race meeting of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It contained Races 7 and 8 of the series and was held on the weekend of May 29–31 at Symmons Plains Raceway, near Launceston, in northern Tasmania.

## Rule change

The new race formats for 2009 saw a 100 kilometre race held as Race 7 on Saturday, with a 200 kilometre race held on Sunday as Race 8.

## Race 7

The first race was held on Saturday May 30. Garth Tander was able to break the year long stranglehold Team Vodafone has held on the 2009 series, taking a narrow victory over Russell Ingall after an innovative use of tyre tactics saw Ingall get much better tyre life out of his set of soft, sprint, tyres. Instead of changing tyres at his pitstop to a set of the harder, slow tyres, Ingall rotated his tyres, swapping the tyres diagonally front/rear and left/right, giving him the best grip of any of the front runners in the races late stages and it was only Tander's ability to put lapped traffic between himself and Ingall that gave the Holden Racing Team driver the race victory.
Steven Johnson continued his best ever V8 Supercar season with a third place, and best of the Ford drivers. It was Johnson's second podium result of the year after claiming third at Race 4 at the Hamilton 400. Will Davison backed up Tander's win in fourth place, making it the best day of the season for HRT ahead of Todd Kelly, his best result of the year to date, and Stone Brothers race Shane van Gisbergen. Team mates Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup followed with a much improved Greg Murphy ninth and a disappointing Lee Holdsworth scraping into the top ten.
James Courtney had a miserable day, involved in several on track skirmishes, including receiving a puncture and pitting on the very lap that his team mate Steven Johnson was already in the pits having his scheduled pitstop, forcing Courtney to lose yet more time waiting for his team to service Johnson's #17 Ford. He finished, but finished last on a day when all 30 cars saw the chequered flag. His championship hopes are effectively extinguished and his hopes for a good season will now hinge on his ability to win races.

## Race 8

Race 8 was held on Sunday May 31.

## Results
### Qualifying Race 7

| Pos | No | Name | Car | Team | Top Ten | Part 2 | Part 1 |
| 1 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden VE Commodore | Holden Racing Team | 51.7043 | 51.6615 | |
| 2 | 51 | Greg Murphy | Holden VE Commodore | Sprint Gas Racing | 51.7574 | 51.5554 | |
| 3 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Ford FG Falcon | Jim Beam Racing | 51.8509 | 51.5289 | |
| 4 | 39 | Russell Ingall | Holden VE Commodore | Supercheap Auto Racing | 51.8956 | 51.6319 | |
| 5 | 18 | James Courtney | Ford FG Falcon | Jim Beam Racing | 51.9352 | 51.5702 | |
| 6 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Holden VE Commodore | Jack Daniel's Racing | 52.0238 | 51.6595 | |
| 7 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen | Ford FG Falcon | Stone Brothers Racing | 52.0414 | 51.5525 | |
| 8 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Ford FG Falcon | Team Vodafone | 52.0890 | 51.4661 | |
| 9 | 6 | Steven Richards | Ford FG Falcon | Ford Performance Racing | 52.2080 | 51.5381 | |
| 10 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Ford FG Falcon | Team Vodafone | EXC | 51.5795 | |
| 11 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Holden VE Commodore | Jack Daniel's Racing | | 51.6648 | |
| 12 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford FG Falcon | Ford Performance Racing | | 51.6909 | |
| 13 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden VE Commodore | Garry Rogers Motorsport | | 51.6992 | |
| 14 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden VE Commodore | Holden Racing Team | | 51.7076 | |
| 15 | 111 | Fabian Coulthard | Ford FG Falcon | Paul Cruickshank Racing | | 51.7363 | |
| 16 | 34 | Michael Caruso | Holden VE Commodore | Garry Rogers Motorsport | | 51.7609 | |
| 17 | 4 | Alex Davison | Ford FG Falcon | Stone Brothers Racing | | 51.8326 | |
| 18 | 25 | Jason Bright | Ford BF Falcon | Stone Brothers Racing | | 51.8722 | |
| 19 | 77 | Marcus Marshall | Ford BF Falcon | Team IntaRacing | | 51.9777 | |
| 20 | 11 | Jack Perkins | Holden VE Commodore | Dodo Racing Team | | 51.9952 | |
| 21 | 67 | Tim Slade | Holden VE Commodore | Supercheap Auto Racing | | | 52.1462 |
| 22 | 8 | Jason Richards | Holden VE Commodore | Team BOC | | | 52.1608 |
| 23 | 3 | Jason Bargwanna | Holden VE Commodore | Sprint Gas Racing | | | 52.1620 |
| 24 | 10 | Paul Dumbrell | Holden VE Commodore | Team Autobarn | | | 52.2415 |
| 25 | 16 | Dale Wood | Holden VE Commodore | Hi Tech Oils Racing | | | 52.2837 |
| 26 | 24 | David Reynolds | Holden VE Commodore | Bundaberg Red Racing | | | 52.3269 |
| 27 | 55 | Tony D'Alberto | Holden VE Commodore | Rod Nash Racing | | | 52.3567 |
| 28 | 333 | Michael Patrizi | Ford BF Falcon | Paul Cruickshank Racing | | | 52.4432 |
| 29 | 12 | Dean Fiore | Holden VE Commodore | Triple F Racing | | | 52.4716 |
| 30 | 14 | Cameron McConville | Holden VE Commodore | WOW Racing | | | 52.5021 |

### Race 7

| Pos | No | Name | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | 42 | 37:13.9662 | 1 | 150 |
| 2 | 39 | Russell Ingall | Paul Morris Motorsport | 42 | +0.1s | 4 | 138 |
| 3 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Dick Johnson Racing | 42 | +8.7s | 3 | 129 |
| 4 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden Racing Team | 42 | +10.6s | 14 | 120 |
| 5 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Jack Daniels Racing | 42 | +11.2s | 11 | 111 |
| 6 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen | Stone Brothers Racing | 42 | +14.9s | 7 | 102 |
| 7 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 42 | +16.4s | 10 | 96 |
| 8 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 42 | +21.4s | 8 | 90 |
| 9 | 51 | Greg Murphy | Tasman Motorsport | 42 | +22.2s | 2 | 84 |
| 10 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 42 | +22.5s | 13 | 78 |
| 11 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Jack Daniels Racing | 42 | +22.9s | 5 | 72 |
| 12 | 34 | Michael Caruso | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 42 | +33.6s | 16 | 69 |
| 13 | 14 | Cameron McConville | Brad Jones Racing | 42 | +34.4s | 30 | 66 |
| 14 | 111 | Fabian Coulthard | Paul Cruickshank Racing | 42 | +41.2s | 15 | 63 |
| 15 | 6 | Steven Richards | Ford Performance Racing | 42 | +41.4s | 9 | 60 |
| 16 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Performance Racing | 42 | +42.0s | 12 | 57 |
| 17 | 4 | Alex Davison | Stone Brothers Racing | 41 | + 1 lap | 17 | 54 |
| 18 | 8 | Jason Richards | Brad Jones Racing | 41 | + 1 lap | 22 | 51 |
| 19 | 3 | Jason Bargwanna | Tasman Motorsport | 41 | + 1 lap | 23 | 48 |
| 20 | 24 | David Reynolds | Walkinshaw Racing | 41 | + 1 lap | 26 | 45 |
| 21 | 11 | Jack Perkins | Kelly Racing | 41 | + 1 lap | 20 | 42 |
| 22 | 77 | Marcus Marshall | Team IntaRacing | 41 | + 1 lap | 19 | 39 |
| 23 | 10 | Paul Dumbrell | Walkinshaw Racing | 41 | + 1 lap | 24 | 36 |
| 24 | 67 | Tim Slade | Paul Morris Motorsport | 41 | + 1 lap | 21 | 33 |
| 25 | 55 | Tony D'Alberto | Rod Nash Racing | 41 | + 1 lap | 27 | 30 |
| 26 | 25 | Jason Bright | Stone Brothers Racing | 41 | + 1 lap | 18 | 27 |
| 27 | 333 | Michael Patrizi | Paul Cruickshank Racing | 40 | + 2 laps | 28 | 24 |
| 28 | 16 | Dale Wood | Kelly Racing | 40 | + 2 laps | 25 | 21 |
| 29 | 12 | Dean Fiore | Triple F Racing | 40 | + 2 laps | 29 | 18 |
| 30 | 18 | James Courtney | Dick Johnson Racing | 40 | + 2 laps | 4 | 15 |

### Qualifying Race 8

| Pos | No | Name | Car | Team | Time |
| 1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Ford FG Falcon | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 51.4898 |
| 2 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Holden VE Commodore | Jack Daniel's Racing | 51.5662 |
| 3 | 51 | Greg Murphy | Holden VE Commodore | Tasman Motorsport | 51.5862 |
| 4 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden VE Commodore | Holden Racing Team | 51.5895 |
| 5 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford FG Falcon | Ford Performance Racing | 51.6190 |
| 6 | 6 | Steven Richards | Ford FG Falcon | Ford Performance Racing | 51.6388 |
| 7 | 111 | Fabian Coulthard | Ford FG Falcon | Paul Cruickshank Racing | 51.6515 |
| 8 | 18 | James Courtney | Ford FG Falcon | Dick Johnson Racing | 51.6597 |
| 9 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Ford FG Falcon | Dick Johnson Racing | 51.6625 |
| 10 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden VE Commodore | Holden Racing Team | 51.7207 |
| 11 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen | Ford FG Falcon | Stone Brothers Racing | 51.7229 |
| 12 | 39 | Russell Ingall | Holden VE Commodore | Paul Morris Motorsport | 51.7271 |
| 13 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden VE Commodore | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 51.7409 |
| 14 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Holden VE Commodore | Jack Daniel's Racing | 51.7573 |
| 15 | 3 | Jason Bargwanna | Holden VE Commodore | Tasman Motorsport | 51.8179 |
| 16 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Ford FG Falcon | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 51.8907 |
| 17 | 16 | Dale Wood | Holden VE Commodore | Kelly Racing | 51.9163 |
| 18 | 25 | Jason Bright | Ford BF Falcon | Stone Brothers Racing | 51.9731 |
| 19 | 4 | Alex Davison | Ford FG Falcon | Stone Brothers Racing | 51.9978 |
| 20 | 8 | Jason Richards | Holden VE Commodore | Brad Jones Racing | 52.0411 |
| 21 | 34 | Michael Caruso | Holden VE Commodore | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 52.0981 |
| 22 | 11 | Jack Perkins | Holden VE Commodore | Kelly Racing | 52.1052 |
| 23 | 333 | Michael Patrizi | Ford BF Falcon | Paul Cruickshank Racing | 52.1309 |
| 24 | 24 | David Reynolds | Holden VE Commodore | Walkinshaw Racing | 52.1570 |
| 25 | 10 | Paul Dumbrell | Holden VE Commodore | Walkinshaw Racing | 52.1759 |
| 26 | 14 | Cameron McConville | Holden VE Commodore | Brad Jones Racing | 52.2187 |
| 27 | 55 | Tony D'Alberto | Holden VE Commodore | Rod Nash Racing | 52.2422 |
| 28 | 67 | Tim Slade | Holden VE Commodore | Paul Morris Motorsport | 52.2766 |
| 29 | 77 | Marcus Marshall | Ford BF Falcon | Team IntaRacing | 52.2767 |
| 30 | 12 | Dean Fiore | Holden VE Commodore | Triple F Racing | 52.6140 |

### Race 8

| Pos | No | Name | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 84 | 1:22:07.8219 | 1 | 150 |
| 2 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden Racing Team | 84 | +0.4s | 4 | 138 |
| 3 | 111 | Fabian Coulthard | Paul Cruickshank Racing | 84 | +0.6s | 7 | 129 |
| 4 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Performance Racing | 84 | +3.6s | 5 | 120 |
| 5 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 84 | +4.4s | 13 | 111 |
| 6 | 39 | Russell Ingall | Paul Morris Motorsport | 84 | +7.8s | 12 | 102 |
| 7 | 25 | Jason Bright | Stone Brothers Racing | 84 | +8.9s | 18 | 96 |
| 8 | 3 | Jason Bargwanna | Tasman Motorsport | 84 | +9.5s | 15 | 90 |
| 9 | 333 | Michael Patrizi | Paul Cruickshank Racing | 84 | +10.0s | 23 | 84 |
| 10 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 84 | +11.6s | 16 | 78 |
| 11 | 4 | Alex Davison | Stone Brothers Racing | 84 | +12.0s | 19 | 72 |
| 12 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | 84 | +12.2s | 10 | 69 |
| 13 | 14 | Cameron McConville | Brad Jones Racing | 84 | +13.1s | 26 | 66 |
| 14 | 67 | Tim Slade | Paul Morris Motorsport | 84 | +9.7s* | 28 | 63 |
| 15 | 6 | Steven Richards | Ford Performance Racing | 84 | +13.4s | 6 | 60 |
| 16 | 34 | Michael Caruso | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 84 | +51.0s | 21 | 57 |
| 17 | 10 | Paul Dumbrell | Walkinshaw Racing | 84 | + 1 lap | 25 | 54 |
| 18 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Dick Johnson Racing | 83 | + 1 lap | 9 | 51 |
| 19 | 55 | Tony D'Alberto | Rod Nash Racing | 83 | + 1 lap | 27 | 48 |
| 20 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen | Stone Brothers Racing | 83 | + 1 lap | 11 | 45 |
| 21 | 11 | Jack Perkins | Kelly Racing | 83 | + 1 lap | 22 | 42 |
| 22 | 51 | Greg Murphy | Tasman Motorsport | 82 | + 2 laps | 3 | 39 |
| 23 | 8 | Jason Richards | Brad Jones Racing | 82 | + 2 laps | 20 | 36 |
| 24 | 77 | Marcus Marshall | Team IntaRacing | 83 | + 1 lap* | 29 | 33 |
| 25 | 12 | Dean Fiore | Triple F Racing | 81 | + 3 laps | 30 | 30 |
| 26 | 24 | David Reynolds | Walkinshaw Racing | 81 | + 3 laps | 24 | 27 |
| 27 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Jack Daniels Racing | 79 | + 5 laps | 14 | 24 |
| DNF | 18 | James Courtney | Dick Johnson Racing | 59 | | 8 | |
| DNF | 16 | Dale Wood | Kelly Racing | 58 | | 17 | |
| DNF | 7 | Todd Kelly | Jack Daniels Racing | 43 | | 2 | |
* Penalties were applied to Tim Slade and Marcus Marshall. Slade was relegated from ninth to 14th. Marshall was relegated from 22nd to 24th.

## Standings

* After Round 4 of 14
| Pos | No | Name | Team | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 1044 |
| 2 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden Racing Team | 948 |
| 3 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Dick Johnson Racing | 753 |
| 4 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | 723 |
| 5 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 723 |