Tander unsure if crashed car will race again

Garth Tander is unsure if his crashed Commodore from Bathurst will ever run again, as the team builds up the spare chassis for next week's Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600.

The Holden Racing Team car - which debuted just two rounds before at Eastern Creek - was first crashed in Tander's hands in Thursdays' practicesession at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, before Warren Luff's huge accident on Saturday, which ultimately meant car #2 would not contest the Great Race.

"The car we had at Bathurst, which was only two race meetings old, is sitting on the scrap pile," Tander said in a team video.

"I'm not sure if that car will run again, it's pretty bad. The more we pulled stuff off when we got to the workshop here the more damage we found, so we certainly weren't going to be able to fix that car at the track."

While the team works away to build up the spare - as well as repairing the sister Supercheap Auto car, also damaged heavily, and tracing the electrical issue in James Courtney's car - Tander assured fans the Commodore that lines up at the Gold Coast will be every bit as good as expected, with all the latest upgrades.

"The car that will be running will be every bit as good as the car prior to the crash at Bathurst - it's got all the same equipment in it, it's got all the same upgrades we've been bringing to our cars throughout the course of the year.

"So the idea is to go up there and go for a couple of race wins, but we need to be mindful of the fact that the stocks are pretty depleted at the moment. We'll be putting all the efforts in to making sure we have a fast car, and making sure we get two strong results."

Tander acknowledged that the disappointment of being unable to start was not only his and Luff's, but shared by the whole team, particularly the crew that works tirelessly to prepare car #2 for each event.

"It's obviously gutting for those boys as well - they put their heart and soul into preparation, into making sure the car's as good as it can be.

"Then to have dramas like we did over the course of the week - my mistake on Thursday that crashed the car, and to see that same car again that they'd just rebuilt out for the weekend and potentially gone - is devastating for those boys."

It has been almost 20 years since Tander has sat out of the V8 Supercars Bathurst enduro, a race many competitors feel the driver really lifts for.

"Last time I watched a Bathurst 1000, not part of it at all, was 1997," he said.

"To sit there and watch and not be part of it - I guess I sort of knew Saturday afternoon I wasn't going to be in the race ... Bathurst is an amazing place and it always tells an amazing story. And I'm not too sure whether they can write a script any more crazy for next year than what we saw this year - it was a pretty amazing race."