Tander to race Australian GT at The Bend

Garth Tander will again race with Audi squad Jamec Pem Racing when Australian GT starts its endurance championship at The Bend this weekend.

Tander is a semi-regular with the team, including the last three editions of the Bathurst 12 Hour, and will partner Geoff Emery in the #1 R8 LMS GT3 at the nation’s newest permanent circuit.

He joins current Virgin Australia Supercars Championship full-timers David Reynolds and Shane van Gisbergen in the 21-car field, as well as the regular contingent of Pirtek Enduro Cup co-drivers and former Supercars steerers.

“I know the Audi quite well now, and the MPC guys (Melbourne Performance Centre, which prepares the car) do a fantastic job, so it’ll be cool. It’ll be on, it always is,” said Tander.

“The Audi’s always competitive – that’s the great thing about GT3 racing, the Balance of Performance keeps it competitive.

“The new track will keep it interesting, I know Reynolds is driving the Mercedes, Shane’s there in the McLaren, so it’ll be a bit of fun with those guys.

“When we do these races the guys at the front always drive these cars really hard and really quickly, hopefully we’re part of it.”

Round 2 of the Australian GT Championship, which doubles as Round 1 of the Australian Endurance Championship, headlines the Shannons Nationals bill at what will be the first competitive motor racing meeting at The Bend.

The Australian GT field will have a test day at the South Australian circuit on Thursday before Practice on Friday.

Saturday sees a qualifying session for each driver with aggregate times for each car determining the starting order for the first 24 laps of the race in twilight.

Action will conclude with the remaining 44 laps on Sunday morning, making for a race distance of over 500km.

Jaie Robson, whom Reynolds will drive with in a Mercedes-AMG, currently leads the Australian GT Championship while Peter Hackett in another Mercedes-AMG is tied for second with Emery.

The Australian Endurance Championship is this year comprised of three long-distance races within the Australian GT Championship.