Tander: The Great Race is the Great Unknown

He’s raced at Bathurst 15 times and won the 1000km classic twice in the last four years, but Holden hero Garth Tander says he will be driving into the unknown when he leaves the Mount Panorama pitlane for the first time today… And he is excited about it.

The reason is the new-for-2013 Car of the Future technical regulations upon which all V8 Supercars, including the Holden Racing Team Commodore VF Tander is sharing with Nick Percat, are based on.

While the cars look much like their ‘Project Blueprint’ predecessors, the swap to an independent rear suspension, transaxle and 18-inch rubber – among much else – means just how they will perform at the top of the fast and daunting 6.213km track is an unknown.

While the teams have learned much through the season about these cars, Tander says all that knowledge is of only limited help at Bathurst.

“I am really looking forward to driving the car at Bathurst because for the first time in something like 20 years we get the chance to drive around there in a car that doesn’t have a solid rear axle,” the 36-year old Perth-born racer told v8supercars.com.au.

“It is going to be a little bit different in the way the car behaves across the top of the mountain and that will provide its own challenge. We haven’t had these cars at this type of track at all this year and there is no way you can replicate it.

“We will experience proper high speeds across the top, but it’s more so the way the track falls away from under the car and the way the car moves around under you as drop down into Reid Park, into the Grate and across McPhillamy Park. The way the car behaves through there is going to be different.

“But whether it is better or worse I don’t know yet.”

Those imponderables mean Tander approaches the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in a relatively neutral state of mind. He dismisses the argument that having won in 2009 and 2011 another odd year means he’s due up again.

“It doesn’t actually work that way because I won in 2000 as well (with Jason Bargwanna for Garry Rogers Motorsport). So it’s a flawed theory unfortunately.

“I feel ready to go and prepared as we can be, so no more confident than any other year and no less confident. I tend to go to Bathurst as neutral as I can be because I have gone there in the past very confident and it has meant nothing … so form going in is almost irrelevant in some ways.

“It’s hard to find a trend going into Bathurst because it stands on its own so much.”

Tander teams with fellow stringbean Percat for the third consecutive year, although for a while it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

Percat shared the glory with Tander in 2011 but then blotted his copybook by hitting the wall and putting them out of contention in 2012. Early in 2013 he was assigned to Walkinshaw Racing customer Tony D’Alberto and even tested the HIFLEX Commodore VF. However, in August he was confirmed as Tander’s co-driver once more.

Tander admits to being a little mystified by the goings on, but also makes it clear he never asked for Percat to be dumped from his car and is glad they are together again.

“It probably all happened a bit later than I would have liked but all the decision making was out of my hands,” he said. “I was curious as to why he wasn’t part of our squad in the first place so I couldn’t be happier about having him back.

“He did the job for us in 2011 and obviously learned all about Bathurst last year. I was disappointed we didn’t get a result last year because I thought we had a better car than we did in 2011 but I have been in Nick’s position, I have made that mistake, I have let the crew down, so I knew what he was feeling.

“So to have him back this year was not a concern of mine at all because that is part of the learning process.”

Although HRT is definitely on the improve and Tander broke through for the team’s first win since Bathurst 2011 at the Sucrogen Townsville 400, he runs only ninth in the Championship 467 points behind Red Bull Racing’s Jamie Whincup in his Triple Eight Commodore VF. Sunday’s winner will earn 300 points.

Tander has had a fair does of bad luck. But he also concedes he has struggled to qualify the COTF Commodore as strongly as teammate James Courtney, who runs fifth in the Championship.

However, he believes the longer practice and qualifying sessions at Bathurst will help ensure the set-up is right. Certainly he is conscious of making the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout but is confident of being there come Saturday afternoon.

“Qualifying has not been a strength this year bit the most recent actual sessions we have been back inside the 10,” said Tander. “I think we are a better than even chance of being in the shootout. Bathurst’s longer sessions give us more time to get it right … hopefully we can out-perform our (2013) qualifying average.”

Whatever the qualifying results, Tander is confident he and Percat will be in the mix come Sunday. And he expects a fair amount of the 29 car grid to be in contention along with them.

“I think the Triple Eight cars will be strong, the FPR cars will be strong, the BJR cars will be strong, I think maybe the Mercs will be strong. So there you go, I’ve rattled off the half the field. Realistically we will all go racing for 100 laps and then have a look around and see who we are racing for the rest of the day.”

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