Leanne Tander joins Phillip Island grid

Leanne Tander will join husband Garth in the TCR Australia Series at Phillip Island this weekend at the wheel of an Audi RS 3 LMS.

The pair will drive the two brand-new Audi TCR racers that have landed in Melbourne this week and will be run by the Melbourne Performance Centre.

The addition of the two new Audis mean the field expands to 18 cars for the second meeting of the campaign, with Leanne becoming the fourth female driver alongside Molly Taylor, Chelsea Angelo and Alexandra Whitley.

“I’ve been hopeful of some sort of drive in the TCR Australia Series,” she said. “It has been bubbling along for a while now, so I’m really glad that we’ve finally been able to pull it together for this weekend.

“I’m really excited about driving it at Phillip Island. I’ve done plenty of laps around there in a wide range of categories, but this is a different type of car to what I’m used to.

“I drove one of the Audi TCRs in Sydney last year, but I didn’t get a lot of laps to really feel what it was about, so I’m looking forward to having a go and seeing what it can do.

“It is fantastic to be sharing the track with three other female racers too. I’ve never raced at this high-level level in the sport with some many girls in the same race. It’s really a huge step forward and a big tick for TCR.

“To have four out of 18 drivers being female – that’s a pretty good ratio, given you generally only ever have one in the field.

“I respect Molly, Chelsea and Alexandra as a drivers. I thought they all did a great job in the first round in Sydney, and as the year progresses, I reckon we’ll see them get towards the front of the field.”