Tander ends Holden drought Garth Tander (centre) celebrates with James Courtney (right) and Shane Van Gisbergen after his victory. In what he hopes is a good omen for the Maroons in the deciding rugby league state of origin match next week, "honorary Queenslander" Garth Tander ended the Holden Racing Team's longest losing streak in the Townsville 400 on Sunday. Tander led home teammate James Courtney to score HRT's first victory in 21 months, with their factory backed VF Commodores bearing opposing signage promoting the Queensland versus NSW showdown at ANZ Stadium on July 17. Perth-born, Melbourne-based Tander's car represented the Maroons in a friendly rivalry with Sydney-born, Gold Coast-based Courtney, whose car wore Blues branding. "It's good to have a Queensland win on home soil," Tander joked. I'm a Queenslander right at the minute. Queensland will win (the state of origin decider), for sure. Courtney, a lifelong rugby league fan, joked he accepted second to ensure that NSW clinches the series. "I'm willing to take one for the boys so we'll win on Wednesday week," he said. Behind the mock rivalry, the 1-2 sweep of the deciding second 70-lap, 200-kilometre leg of the Townsville 400 was a huge relief for the pair, who hadn't seriously contended since 2011. Tander scored HRT's previous win at the Bathurst 1000 in October that year, the only interruption of the long slump that saw the team decline to its first winless season in two decades last year. Although mainly strategic, HRT's Sunday sweep - in reply to Ford Performance Racing's rout in Saturday's first leg - was accompanied by clear signs that genuine race-winning speed is not far away. New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen recovered from a first lap spin to charge from last to third place in his Commodore. In a further validation that Walkinshaw Racing-run HRT has turned around its fortunes, veteran Russell Ingall drove the squad's satellite entry from 26th to fifth, while privateer Tony D'Alberto brought his WR-built Commodore home in sixth. V8 champion Jamie Whincup was off the pace in his Triple Eight Holden, which was hampered by tyre issues, finishing an uncharacteristic 11th as his teammate Craig Lowndes struggled to seventh. Whincup still leads the title race, but his lead over Lowndes has been reduced to 111 points. ■ Former world motorcycle champion Casey Stoner made gains behind the wheel, if not on the track, in his two V8 Supercars development series races. After being crashed out of Saturday's race, Stoner had to start his Triple Eight Holden Commodore from the rear of the grid in Sunday's 14-lap opener, carving his way from 29th to 14th at the finish. But as grid positions for the 17-lap final were decided in order of points scored in the first two races, he started from 26th and avoided early carnage to end the safety car-interrupted event in 15th place. Stoner, who quit MotoGP at the end of last season, set the sixth quickest lap time in the third race and was pleased with the progress of his driving despite not getting the opportunity to challenge for top 10 results. "We again had really good pace e - better than we have all year - and we could have done something with it," he said. But our weekend was ruined, really, in race one. It meant we had to start back in the pack, but we had the pace to get through - when I wasn't getting banged up and smashed up. I lost positions constantly and got caught up in a lot of carnage. But as soon as we got a clean lap, we showed what we could do and made up time. We could have been a lot quicker if we didn't have to contend with the carnage, but we're getting there slowly. Stoner is competing in V8's seven-event second-tier Dunlop Series as a possible graduation to the main championship next year. His next outing is at Queensland Raceway, Ipswich, on July 27-28.