The pairing of David Reynolds and Garth Tander for this year’s Great Race is more than just a case of two Bathurst 1000 winners sharing a car.
Notwithstanding that factory Porsche driver Estre will be making his Supercars Championship debut at Sandown after Payne did so last year (in a competitive capacity) at Mount Panorama, the duo have raced against each other already, including in last year’s 24 Hours of Spa.
The ties in Car #26, though, run deep.
Tander is a huge signing for Grove Racing after winning the Bathurst 1000 twice in the past three years as co-driver to Shane van Gisbergen at Triple Eight Race Engineering.
On the first of those occasions, their Race Engineer on the #97 ZB Commodore was Grant McPherson, who, after a stint at Walkinshaw Andretti United, is now Grove’s Technical Director.
As for the Race Engineer currently on the #26 S650 Mustang, Alistair McVean followed Reynolds from Erebus Motorsport to Grove in 2021.
Before then, though, he was part of Walkinshaw Racing, and so happened to be Tander’s Race Engineer when the West Australian won the Bathurst 1000 in Holden Racing Team entries in 2009 and 2011.
Furthermore, Reynolds was part of the Walkinshaw stable until the end of 2010, co-driving the other HRT Commodore in that year’s Great Race.
“I am thrilled to drive with Garth this year,” said the 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner.
“We have known each other for a long time and he’s as good as they come.
“He is really respected, his knowledge of the sport and his craft is fantastic, and if there is one person you want to be paired with for enduros, it’s him.”
Tander’s five victories at Mount Panorama have him equal sixth all-time, and this year’s Great Race will be his 25th, but he believes there are still things to learn from his 2023 driving partner.
“I’m excited to pair up with Dave for Sandown and Bathurst,” remarked ‘GT’.
“With Dave being a former Bathurst winner himself, I’m looking forward to learning more about how Dave goes about the business of driving fast at those two events.
“Dave and I have been in the same team together in the past, but never shared the same car, so should be a bit of fun given how much of a character Dave is, but when it’s time to go to work, it will be full focus on the job at hand.
“I’m also looking forward to working with Matt as he continues his journey as a rookie driver this year.
“I think he’ll learn an immense amount from Kévin Estre over the two endurance events, given how much of a pro Kévin is.”
The Sandown 500 takes place on September 15-17 and the Bathurst 1000 on October 5-8.
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