After a hot and humid practice day, persistent rain was the order of the day for Qualifying and Race 1 in the 2011 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series at Sandown. Tim Blanchard put in a strong qualifying performance to place the the #27 Jayco Falcon on the fourth row of the grid in position 7.

The first of three races started with a damp track but the Dunlop slick was the tyre of choice. A wild start saw Tim run down along the fence as Marcus Zukanovic moved across finally clipping the front of the Jayco Falcon. Sensing a bigger accident Tim wisely backed out of it. Zukanovic then spun taking Douglas & Paul Morris with him. A lucky escape saw Tim into P5 as the Safety Car was called.

At the restart Tim struggled for grip and the lead pack skipped away. A mid race battle with McLaughlin and series leader Andrew Thompson developed but they both got by Blanchard.

The races pace increased as the track continued to dry and Tim crossed the line in 7th position to record another Top 10 in the series. "We all started on slicks but I was really struggling to get some grip. In the early laps it lacked the drive I needed off the corners but as the race wore on I could put in some better laps." Tim said. "The points today keeps us in 5th place overall but I really want to try for the podium tomorrow" Blanchard added.

Sunday sees two 15 lap races, the first with an inverted top 10 which will see Tim start from P4.