Bound for The Mountain

It’s a long day ‘at the office’ by any measure, but the Bathurst 12 Hour Race has become one of the most prestigious races on the Australian motorsport calendar and also attracts the cream of international teams to Mount Panorama.

This year, three-time Bathurst 1000 winner and former V8 Supercar champion, Garth Tander will be behind the wheel of the JamecPem R8 LMS for an assault on the title that Audi won so convincingly in 2011 and then again in 2012.

Originally Tander was to partner Craig Lowndes in the car, but a dirt bike accident on the weekend left him with a broken collarbone and the JamesPem team looking to fill the driving slot.

Nevertheless, Tander says he is excited at the prospect of tackling the mountain in the new Audi, even though he is more accustomed to taking on the Mount Panorama track in V8 Supercars.

“I’ve done a few sportscar races now in the last couple of years, but never had the opportunity to go to the 12 Hour,” he said in Sydney today at the launch of the car on Channel Seven’s Sunrise.

“So when Steve McLaughlin from JamecPem rang and asked me if I’d be keen to do it, I said yeah I’d love to.

With the new Audi R8 LMS arriving in Australia at the end of last year, Tander has already put in plenty of test laps to become accustomed to the GT3 machine. Although very happy with the Audi’s speed and set-up, there are obvious differences between this and the V8 Supercars he is more familiar with and these things will take some time to get used to says Tander.

“Obviously the GT3 car is very different to the V8 Supercars I’ve spent pretty much my whole career driving, so adapting to a car that’s left-hand drive, adapting to a car that has quite a bit more aero, has ABS brakes and traction control … all of the luxuries we’re not used to in V8s, so a very different type of driving style,” he says.

“Also, when we get to Bathurst, something as simple as sitting on the other side of the car is actually quite a big deal,” says Tander. “I’m so used to sitting on the other side of the car and knowing where to position the car and how to place it, that I will be sitting on the other side requires quite a bit of thought to make sure I don’t end up clipping the wall because I’m not used to the spacial awareness.

Of course as well as the omni-present concrete walls around the famed track, this year will see more than 40 cars start the race, with many international drivers descending on Bathurst unfamiliar with the Mount Panorama layout. The 12 Hour is also a ProAm event, which means that there will be a mixture of professional and amateur or ‘non-seeded’ drivers. In addition, the race also sees a number of different classes on the track, many of which are not as fast as the GT3 class that Tander and his team will contest, adding to the potential dangers of ‘traffic’ around the Mountain.

Add to these little obstacles to potential threat of the local wildlife finding its way onto the circuit, the obvious challenges of starting the race in the dark and Bathurst’s notorious weather, and you have all the makings of a real thriller.

Tander likens the race to a game of chess, playing strategy for 11 hours and trying to put the car in the best possible position for the final hour sprint to the finish. This is no small task, with significant competition from Europe lining up for the race, many of the drivers having previously driven at Bathurst and this year, no less than 15 full-time V8 Supercar drivers also taking part.

For Tander, it’s an opportunity he’s looking forward to, with several test sessions still ahead to get to know the car and team mates Steve McLaughlin (the car’s owner) and Lowndes’ replacement, Audi factory driver René Rast.

“It says a lot about this race and it says a lot about the team that Audi are prepared to send down one of their top drivers like René Rast to compete,” says Tander.

Rast, who was part of the development team at Audi working on the new R8 LMS is well versed in how the car works and having driven at Bathurst before, will be able to get the most out of the car around the demanding layout. McLaughlin too has driven in the 12 Hour before and although he is  also fielding a second R8 LMS, would very much like to win the event with his own car.

Certainly it will take every ounce of their combined ability and knowledge of the track to take on the filed this year. Tander says any one of 10 teams could potentially take home the trophy but expects the bulk of the competition to come from the other Audi teams although several factory teams from Europe including Bentley and McLaren will make things‘interesting’. Come February, it certainly promises to be a hell of a race.