25 best Supercars drivers since 2000: #6 Garth Tander
As 2025 gets underway, Supercars.com is ranking the top 25 drivers of the last 25 years, continuing with Garth Tander, who comes in as our #6.
Garth Tander entered the 2000s as one of the hottest prospects in Supercars, and 25 years later the West Aussie has firmly established himself as one of the all-time greats in Supercars.
Tander nearly started the 21st century with a surprise championship win against the combined might of the Holden Racing Team and Mark Skaife, but it was a move to Tom Walkinshaw's empire that saw him take the next step.
Joining the HSV Dealer Team in 2005, Tander became a Supercars champion in 2007 before jumping between TWR teams to the HRT to effectively take over Skaife's mantle as team leader in 2008.
Until the HRT lost their factory support at the end of 2016, Tander was a perennial frontrunner in the #2 Commodore, even though Triple Eight emerged as the front running Holden team, and eventually took the factory funding.
After a brief return to GRM, Tander's success has carried on into his co-driving role, claiming a further two Bathursts with Shane van Gisbergen at Triple Eight, before moving to the young Grove Racing operation.
Garth Tander's key stats since 2000
Years active: 2000-present
Rounds: 272
Races: 593
Best championship position: 1st (2007)
Best finish: 1st (55 wins)
Top three finishes: 145
Best start: 1st (30 pole positions)
Best Bathurst result: 1st (2000, 2009, 2011, 2020, 2022)
The highlight
Any number of Tander's 55 wins in the 21st century could've made this section, with his 2016 Sandown 500 win and 2007 title win in particular both worthy of honourable mentions.
However, it is his 2011 Bathurst win that just tops those two achievements, with Tander prevailing in one of the tightest duels to the finish in Bathurst history.
Struggling home in the lead with an ill-handling HRT Commodore, Tander had to contend with a surging Craig Lowndes, who was already taking large chunks out of the lead before Tander ran off at The Chase.
As the laps wound down, Lowndes ranged up onto the rear of the #2, and it almost seemed a formality that the #888 would move into the lead in what would prove to be co-driver Mark Skaife's final start.
However, Tander put on a defensive masterclass in the final few laps, fending off all of Lowndes' advances, in both traditional and untraditional passing spots, to claim the HRT's final Bathurst win and hand Nick Percat a fairytale win on debut.
Why we picked him
To this day in his current co-driving role at Grove Racing, Tander is still regarded as one of the fastest and fiercest competitors in the Supercars Championship.
Few could argue against his 2007 championship victory, following a season where he won 15 races (including 5 in a row across three of the opening four rounds), however it is at Bathurst where he has truly shone.
Tander is a five-time winner of the Great Race, all of which have come this century, whilst also claiming a further three podium finishes, and being in contention for several more.
His 2000 win for GRM alongside Jason Bargwanna came in a must-win situation for an unlikely title challenge, and came on a day of challenging conditions.
However, his two wins for the HRT and two wins for Triple Eight have arguably been the wins that have cemented his legacy in the sport, and proved how much Tander had matured over the course of his career.
The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of Supercars, teams or drivers.
