BREAKING NEWS: Tander signs new HRT deal

Toll Holden Racing Team has announced today that Garth Tander has re-signed with the factory Holden squad in a new deal that takes his tenure with the team up to the end of the 2014 season.

“A lot of people might question my decision after such a disappointing event in Darwin, but for me there was absolutely no question of staying with the Toll Holden Racing Team,” said Tander.

“Martine and Ryan [Walkinshaw] have been fantastic to deal with. They have outlined their plans for the team and I have complete faith in them.

“I am also certain of the people within the team who are working hard behind the scenes and I am confident that together we are capable of returning Toll HRT to a position where it is winning races on a more consistent basis, and winning championships.”

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Tander’s new deal means that Toll HRT will stick with its current driver line-up for the next two seasons at least, with new recruit James Courtney signing a three-year deal late last year.

“We are really excited to have extended our relationship with Garth. This extension re-affirms our commitment to having the best talent and allows us to focus on the task at hand which is winning races,” said Ryan Walkinshaw, eldest son of the late Tom Walkinshaw.

“Garth’s experience and interaction with the team regarding technical aspects of the car is second to none, and we are excited to have him on board as we focus towards the future,” he said.

Tander joined Walkinshaw Racing in 2005, initially with the HSV Dealer Team, winning the 2007 V8 Supercar Drivers Championship while also being part of back-to-back Teams Championships in 2006/07.

In 2008 he moved across to the factory Toll Holden Racing Team, which won the Teams Championship the following year – Tander and Will Davison clean sweeping that year’s Phillip Island 500 and Bathurst 1000 enduros.

With a race win at the Clipsal 500 and podium finishes in Hamilton, Perth and Winton, Tander sits seventh in this year’s series points, the Toll HRT fourth in the team standings.

In a big week for Tander, his wife Leanne gave birth to the couple’s first child, daughter Scarlett, last Friday morning.

Full story to follow upon completion of announcement at Toll HRT’s Clayton headquarters …