Walkinshaw Racing is determined to farewell the famous Holden Racing Team moniker and seasoned driver Garth Tander on a positive note at the Coates Hire Sydney 500.
This weekend’s event marks the end of an era for the Walkinshaw outfit with factory Holden funding moving to Triple Eight next season after a 26-year stint.
Sydney Olympic Park will also see Tander contest his last event with Walkinshaw after an 12-year tenure that has yielded 50 race wins and the 2007 title.
The 39-year-old will be replaced at the Clayton outfit by Scott Pye next season.
Although also working on developments for next season, team boss Adrian Burgess says the focus is very much on delivering a strong result in Sydney.
“We’d love to see out the last event for HRT and Garth on a high,” Burgess told Speedcafe.com.
“We will be doing a couple of things differently with a view to next year, but it is a circuit we like and know and we have had success at in the past.
“We will be going there trying to replicate that by finishing the year with a victory and we would love nothing more than Garth to win the last race.
“We are not going to slow him down or the team down as a result of him not driving with us next year. There would be nothing better for him or for the team if he was to win.”
Set to bring the curtain down on a significant part of his motor racing career, Tander has chosen to deflect the emotion of his departure behind the significance of HRT’s final event in its current guise.
“To be honest the final race for HRT as we know it is more of a big deal more than the event being about my last race with the team,” Tander told Speedcafe.com.
“We just want to go there and do as a good a job as I can for all the HRT fans.
“I feel very humbled to have been a part of the team’s history and to have contributed to its success.
“I’ve won two Bathursts and come close to the championship (with HRT) and I have had a heap of race wins.
“I haven’t really thought about how I will react when I get out of the car for the last time.
“I have driven for the one organisation for 11 years and a lot of the people who will be there have been around for the majority of that and that is also quite humbling.
“There might be some emotion but it all depends on what the result of the race is.”
The Western Australian is yet to announce his plans for next season but remains heavily linked to a vacant seat at Garry Rogers Motorsport.
Tander says discussions are continuing and that he is comfortable in the direction they are heading.
“Nothing is 100 percent done yet,” he said.
“We are continuing to work behind the scenes but I don’t think there will be any announcements this weekend.
“I don’t think the timeline is right and we are not where we need to be yet.
“I’m comfortable with where we are at, so with regards to timeframe it is really irrelevant because I’m reasonably comfortable with all our discussions with various parties.
“It might be (announced) before Christmas but we will have to wait and see.”
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