Tander leads Supercars stars at halfway

Garth Tander leads the Supercars charge at the halfway point of the 2018 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, while Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup have starred.

Tander is second in his Audi, Mostert led the first quarter of the race in a BMW currently seventh and Whincup charged up the order with his Mercedes 11th.

The high-profile McLaren of Shane van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes, though, is in the garage with persistent overheating issues, more than 10 laps down.

The #22 Jamec-Pem Audi of Tander, Kelvin van der Linde and Frederic Vervisch has been a quiet achiever.

It has maintained a strong pace and stayed out of trouble as a number of other contending cars were served penalties for restart infringements.

Tander got into the R8 LMS during the fifth hour, then jumped from third to the lead when it did not take tyres during a pitstop early in the sixth hour.

He relinquished it to the sister Jamec-Pem Audi driven by Christopher Haase - who did take fresh rubber - just before the ninth Safety Car period approaching the top of the sixth hour and sits second with 131 laps complete.

Mostert dominated the first stanza, starting from pole and building a lead of nearly 40 seconds in the Schnitzer Motorsport BMW before making his opening stop.

Bathurst 12 Hour: Top 10 after six hours1. #74 Jamec-Pem Audi2. #22 Jamec-Pem Audi3. #991 Craft-Bamboo Porsche4. #100 Steve Richards Motorsport BMW5. #911 Manthey-Racing Porsche6. #12 Competition Motorsports Porsche7. #43 Schnitzer Motorsport BMW8. #540 Boston Athletic Club Porsche9. #17 Bentley10. #55 Strakka Racing Mercedes