Melbourne Performance Centre (MPC) has secured the services of racing veteran Garth Tander for the second round of the carsales TCR Australia Series at Phillip Island.
The 2007 Australian Touring Car Champion will be behind one of the brand-new Audi RS 3 LMS TCR cars, which was recently purchased after a successful first round in Sydney.
Despite the three-time Bathurst 1000 winner never having driven in an under 2-litre turbo-charged TCR car or front-wheel race car, Tander was keen to get into the driver’s seat.
“I’m looking forward to it. I was a keen observer of the first round in Sydney, so to get my opportunity to drive a brand new Audi at Phillip Island is fantastic,” Tander said.
“It will be different to drive than anything I’ve done before so it will be a challenge to get my head around it.
“I’ve never raced a front wheel drive car before. That will be the main thing to get across, but looking at the racing in Sydney, it looked exciting, challenging, and the guys out there are fast and switched on.
“Drivers like Will Brown, Tony D’Alberto and Jason Bright have a full race weekend head start on me. I have a bit of catching up to do but I’m up for it.”
Tander will have no lack of track time during the Shannons Nationals’ visit to the island with the Victorian also committed to racing in the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship alongside Geoff Emery.
With it set to be a busy weekend for Tander, Melbourne Performance Centre Managing Director Troy Russell was thrilled to sign up the touring car star in the new Audi.
“Garth is our first port of call anytime our team needs a driver. We tried to get him for Sydney but things didn’t work. We are rapt that he’ll be in our car for Phillip Island,” Russell explained.
“He is the ultimate professional – both in and out of the car. He won’t have driven the car prior to Phillip Island, but knowing Garth, it won’t take him long to get his head around it and get on the pace.
“He is also racing the Audi R8 in the Australian GT races too, so he won’t be lacking for race mileage over the weekend.”
Tickets for the Shannons Nationals’ visit to Phillip Island are now on sale and can be purchased here, while fans can watch all the action live and free through the live stream on speedseries.com.au.
The Shannons Nationals’ second round for 2019 takes place at Phillip Island on 7-9 June.
