Back to the future for Tander

Garth Tander steps back into his old V8 Supercar for the Sydney Motorsport Park SuperSprint, steering the chassis that was badly damaged at Bathurst last year.

The sizeable shunt at turn two was caused by a brake failure with co-driver Warren Luff behind the wheel in Saturday practice at Mount Panorama.

The pair was forced to withdraw from the high profile race after the dramatic accident, which also drew in Craig Lowndes, who jumped out of his Commodore and rushed to the aid of former co-driver Luff in a heartfelt showing of camaraderie.

After assessment, Tander suggested the chassis may never race again - but the Holden Racing Team crew has reassembled it to help him fight for a race win this weekend.

Funnily enough, it is Luff who will cut the first laps in anger, in the additional driver only practice session that kicks off V8 Supercars proceedings tomorrow morning at Sydney Motorsport Park.

"I'm back in chassis 21 this weekend - the 'crash car' - and Luffy actually gets to drive it first!" Tander said.

"Hopefully he will exorcise some demons, then I'll get into it - unless Luffy crashes it again, that's our car for the rest of the year," he joked.

"The plan was for that to be my new car last year, so 12 months later we've got it back again."

Bathurst was the car's third event last year, after debuting at Sydney Motorsport Park last year. The Commodore Tander has been racing will now become the team's spare, with a sixth car almost complete in the workshop.

The 2007 V8 Supercars Champion sits eighth in the points (tied with Jamie Whincup, but placed lower on a countback of race wins) and is still looking for a race win this season, though he has earned seven top five finishes.

A tough racer, Tander often makes his way through the field, but knows starting further up is crucial if he is to challenge for wins.

"Qualifying speed is our main priority at this race meet, we have shown all year that our race pace is fine but we need to qualify closer to the front," he said.

Tander has only won once at Sydney Motorsport Park, back in 2008, his first season with the Holden Racing Team.

Last year he came home second in the wet weather affected race one, behind Shane van Gisbergen, after starting 14th on the grid.

"The Sydney Motorsport Park track is a very good and one I enjoy," the #2 driver said.

"It's a medium to low grip circuit which has a great layout. It's challenging and tyre wear is reasonably high here as well so strategy becomes an issue here, particularly on Sunday."

Meanwhile teammate James Courtney, who sits fifth in the points, knows he must not put a foot wrong this weekend if he is to bridge the gap to leader Mark Winterbottom.

Courtney looked on form at the circuit last year, but suffered from mechanical issues in Sunday's race leaving him 21st after qualifying fourth.

"We were leading the race there last year until we had an issue with the gearbox, so we had good speed and then again at the start of the year we performed really well at the initial test," Courtney said.

"So I'm looking forward to getting back there and seeing what we can do."

"Also being a western Sydney boy it's only 15 minutes from where I grew up, which is pretty cool, and I will hopefully get out and see my family during our time down there."

The Sydney Motorsport Park SuperSprint kicks off tomorrow with coverage live on FOX SPORTS 506, and highlights packages on Saturday and Sunday on TEN and ONE.