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Where Tander sits in the Supercars record books

09 Jan 2019
The key numbers from the 2007 champion's career
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The news on Wednesday that Garry Rogers Motorsport has signed Richie Stanaway for the 2019 season all-but ends the full-time Supercars career of Garth Tander.

The West Australian was due to take Craig Lowndes' mantle as the oldest and most-experienced driver on the grid in 2019, following his long-time rival's retirement.

  • Rogers explains Tander's GRM exit

  • Archive: Tander's key milestones from the first 600

He is now, though, set to join Lowndes in stepping back to PIRTEK Enduro Cup duties, and in a clean break from GRM is a free agent.

Tander made his debut at Phillip Island in 1998 with GRM, after winning the previous year's Australian Formula Ford Championship.

From a 21-year-old deputising for Steven Richards, Tander has gone on to carve out one of the most-distinguished careers of the modern era.

A championship won in 2007 is accompanied by three Bathurst 1000 wins, which he still might add to in the coming years.

So where does Tander rank in the Supercars record books on the key stats, as it stands?

Enduro success

Mount Panorama is a playground in which Tander has always excelled, the 1,000km battle suiting his racecraft and fiercely-competitive nature.

With victories in 2000, '09 and '11, Tander is one of just 20 drivers with multiple Great Race wins.

He sits equal 10th on the ladder with Dick Johnson for wins, and equal 17th on podiums with five, alongside Warren Luff and John Harvey.

Tander is also a three-time winner of Supercars' 500km endurance race, twice at Phillip Island and once at Sandown.

Championships

In beating Jamie Whincup to the 2007 title, Tander is in a group of 25 drivers to have won the Australian Touring Car Championship.

His triumph is the last time a driver has overhauled the pre-event points leader to win the crown in the finale.

Race wins

Tander is fourth on the all-time race winners' list, with a career tally of 54.

Whincup leads that on 113, ahead of Lowndes 107, with Mark Skaife third on 90.

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Tander sits ahead of Peter Brock, 48, while the next-best active driver is Mark Winterbottom in seventh on 38.

On round wins, Tander is eighth with 20.

Most race wins in a season

On his way to the 2007 title, Tander won 15 races – a haul only bettered by Lowndes with 16 in 1996.

Tander sits level on that figure with Skaife in 2002 and Whincup in '08, his win-rate that year 40.54 percent across 37 races.

Podiums

Third in the Sunday race in Adelaide last year was Tander's 95th podium in the Supercars Championship.

He is fifth on the all-time tally led by Whincup on 197, behind Lowndes, Winterbottom and Brock.

Shane van Gisbergen, who moved from 77 to 94 during the 2018 season, can be expected to pass Tander this year.

Poles

Qualifying is not viewed as a Tander strong suit, at least in comparison to the way he races.

But he still has 30 career poles to his name, to be eighth on the list, including two at Bathurst.

Starts

However you slice it between rounds and races, Tander is second to Lowndes on Supercars longevity.

Last year's finale in Newcastle was the 282nd event Tander has contested since making his debut in Round 4 of 1998, with the Sunday race his 634th start.

Lowndes has featured in 294 championship rounds and 667 races, with Jason Bright third on rounds on 260 and Russell Ingall third on races on 587.

In the absence of Lowndes and Tander, Rick Kelly becomes the active full-time driver with the most round and race starts – 239 and 522.

If Tander stayed on with GRM as expected in 2019, he would have drawn level with Lowndes on most round starts, the 15-event calendar including three enduros to bridge the current gap of 12.

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