Garth Tander is “not that fussed” about racing a Ford in the Repco Supercars Championship for the very first time in this weekend’s Penrite Oil Sandown 500.
The five-time Bathurst 1000 winner is second all-time for Supercars Championship event and race starts on 288 and 642 respectively, behind only Craig Lowndes.
Unlike Lowndes’, however, every single one of Tander’s has been made behind the wheel of Holdens, including his 2007 title year.
Even Greg Murphy and Larry Perkins, to pick two drivers with close associations with the famous Adelaide marque, have history in Australian touring car racing in other brands.
Murphy made his Great Race debut in a Toyota Carina in 1994 while Perkins partnered Dick Johnson in a Ford Mustang at Mount Panorama in 1985, although the event was not part of the championship in those days.
Tander’s streak was always going to come to an end with the retirement of Holden, but his defection from Red Bull Ampol Racing to Penrite Racing even takes him away from General Motors machinery.
Having won the Bathurst 1000 three times for the Holden Racing Team, twice with the ‘traditional’ Walkinshaw effort and then the 2020 triumph with Triple Eight Race Engineering, he will now attack the enduros in the #26 Ford Mustang as David Reynolds’ co-driver.
“I’m just excited to be driving a Ford for the first time,” said the 46-year-old.
“It seems like everyone else is making it a much bigger deal than I am.
“Really, when you’re sitting in the seat, holding the steering wheel, pulling the gearstick, they look and sound and feel identical, so I’m not that fussed about it, but obviously a great opportunity to do something different.”
Both Tander and fellow Bathurst 1000 winner Reynolds have history with the Walkinshaw HRT, the latter having been brought into Supercars by the Clayton-based operation.
They have been team-mates before, but never shared a car.
“I’ve known David Reynolds for a very long time,” noted Tander.
“I was actually his mentor when he very first started in Supercars a long time ago, and he is quite a character, he’s a different unit, we’ll have a lot of fun.
“But, when we put the helmets on and it’s time to go racing, we know we need to be serious.
“Dave’s very fast, we know that, he’s been very strong this year in some of the events and he’s always very strong at Bathurst so, as a former Bathurst winner, teaming up with him is going to be a lot of fun.”
In the other Grove Racing entry, Matt Payne will be joined by factory Porsche driver Kevin Estre.
Practice 1 at Sandown starts this Friday at 10:45 local time/AEST.
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