Photo: V8 Supercars Media

Garth Tander unfazed by Thursday practice crash

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Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander was just one of a number of drivers who got into trouble at Mount Panorama on Thursday. Tander’s Commodore was damaged when it hit the wall at the Dipper at the end of the third practice session, with every session interrupted by red flags.

Dick Johnson Racing’s David Wall and Charlie Schwerkolt Racing’s Cameron Waters both had incidents in the first session, which saw both drivers miss the second practice session while their cars were repaired.

A spin for Super Black Racing’s Andre Heimgartner brought out the red flag in the second session, while their were two red flags in quick succession in the final session of the day, when first Volvo Polestar Racing’s Robert Dahlgren hit the wall at the Dipper, with the Swede losing the rear-end of the car through the turn, with Tander also hitting the wall at the same place five minutes after the session resumed.

“The car speed certainly earlier was good,” said Tander to TouringCarTimes. “We lost a lot of track time in the co-driver session as we had a drive line problem, and that cost us quite a bit, Luffy (co-driver Warren Luff) didn’t get any laps in that session so I had to give him some laps in P3. But when I jumped in the car halfway through P3 the car felt pretty good, but then I made a mistake, totally my mistake, up the top of the hill, I clipped the inside wall which fired me into the outside wall, and caused quite a bit of damage to the car.

“They’ll obviously fix it and it’ll be fine tomorrow, but it’s quite a bit of work we didn’t really need to be doing.”

With Tander and team-mate James Courtney third and fourth quickest in the first session, the day had begun strongly, and the 2007 champion believes the Holden Racing Team will be competitive tomorrow.

“I think our car speed is OK, I don’t think we would have been down in the low 2:06s like the Fords were, but maybe six and a half, six-seven, about their lap time wise. I think the speed is in the car, but the (new) track surface has a lot of grip and it’s unique in how it’s delivering it to the car,” he added, echoing sentiments made by many drivers that the new surface is remarkably slippery.

“(The Fords) have been strong all day, they won it last year and they’ve had fast cars here for many years. I don’t think they really stand out though. A fast car is a good car on race day, but I think it’s important you’ve got a car that’s comfortable, you’ve got to have a car that’s comfortable and fast that’s what we’re focussing on. Qualifying is important, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.”