Tander to go Carrera Cup racing around The Bend

Garth Tander will make his return to racing through the Carrera Cup arena around The Bend later this month.

Tander will drive a #87 SP Tools backed Porsche in the fourth round of the competitive one-make championship.

The 2007 Supercars champion and five time Bathurst 1000 winner will drive a Earl Bamber Motorsport prepared Grove Racing Porsche 911 GT3R.

Tander will use the Porsche drive as valuable preparation for his first ever Supercars drive for Ford at Sandown and Bathurst with Grove Racing.

The veteran is no stranger to The Bend, having raced at the Supercars debut at the South Australian venue in 2018 and also finished fourth in the GT World Challenge Australia round there.

Tander’s car will be decked out in a similar livery to Maro Engel’s 2013 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes E63 Supercar.

He is looking forward to the special opportunity to gain some racing miles ahead of Sandown having spent much of the year with a microphone on the Supercars TV broadcast.

“I’m really excited to do a sprint round of Carrera Cup at Tailem Bend,” Tander said. 

“I have raced Carrera Cup in the Pro-Am event that they used to run back in 2016. Obviously doing a championship sprint round is a whole other deal, and I am under no illusion that its going to be incredibly tough, so I know it’s going to be a steep learning curve, but I am really excited about that opportunity.

“Many thanks also to Stephen and Brenton Grove. Getting racing miles prior to Sandown and Bathurst is important.

“I can’t think of anything better to prepare me for those two Supercar endurance racing events than to jump into the middle of a very tough Carrera Cup championship right in the deep end and having a go, so thanks very much to them for giving me this chance.” 

Grove Racing owner Stephen Grove the drive has been arranged in mind to ensure Tander is in tip top fashion for the biggest races of the year.

“It’s important for Garth to have the opportunity to get some miles prior to the enduro rounds and Carrera Cup is the perfect platform,” he said. 

“To have a driver of Garth Tander’s experience pilot a Grove Racing 992 Porsche Cup car at Talem Bend is exciting for the whole team”.

The Porsches will be racing alongside the Supercars on August 18-20.

PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!

Andrew, Bruce and PG got up early for a chat about the Sydney Supernight race and Bruce was far from happy about it. There was a great win by Erebus driver Brodie Kostecki, who now leads the title again and controversy around the podium with penalties taking trophies away from Cam Waters and Shane van Gisbergen… neither was happy. Did anyone say Green Card?

What happened to pole winner Andre Heimgartner? Who had steering issues, and why were so many people swearing? Who got fined and punished, and who didn’t?

It was a big night before a big day.

Listen on your podcast app of choice or here on the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast.