HOLDEN Racing Team stalwart Garth Tander is confident his team has closed the gap on Red Bull Racing after a strong start to the year.
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But he knows the V8 Supercars season is a marathon, not a sprint.
The 37-year-old West Australian will enter the Tasmania SuperSprint at Symmons Plains in third position in the championship with 237 points after a seventh, fourth and third in Adelaide.
Teammate James Courtney (258 points) is at the top of the tree.
‘‘Adelaide was a good start and it really continued the good form that we showed in the back-half of 2014,’’ Tander told The Examiner.
‘‘Last year was always going to be a building year, with new staff coming on with (Walkinshaw Racing managing director) Adrian Burgess joining the team, a new technical director in Matty Nilsson and new engineers, so there were a lot of changes in the team.
‘‘Twelve months down the road we are in a far better place, we are much more organised and the cars are much closer to the mark.
‘‘We showed that we are capable in Adelaide and we feel we have a package we can compete with, but in saying that, we do know there has only been one round of the championship so far.
‘‘We think we are closing the gap to Red Bull. We beat them a couple of times on speed at the end of last year, and again at Adelaide and the Grand Prix.
‘‘Those guys (with Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes piloting) are still the benchmark, but we feel we are starting to get in a position to challenge.’’
The 2007 series champion admitted maintaining that consistency on the smaller (2.4 kilometres) track at Symmons Plains would be a challenge.
‘‘We have proven on the street circuit in Adelaide that our car is good and on the faster-flowing circuit at Phillip Island our car was good, but it is these medium-speed circuits that we need to improve on.
‘‘Symmons Plains last year on the Saturday wasn’t too bad for me, and on the Sunday I had a lot of mechanical issues, and James had a strong weekend (with two podiums).
‘‘But we feel our engines are a lot better this year and our understanding of our aero package is better so that will make a difference.
‘‘Consistency is an issue though, and we need to make sure a bad weekend is finishing fifth, not 15th.’’
The man known as GT will be returning to a track he has enjoyed himself in the past.
He has had seven race wins here (the equal second most) and four pole positions.
‘‘When you look at it on paper, you do think it is only three or four corners, but they are very different types of corners that require a different driving technique and car set-up.’’
HRT yesterday announced its cars would have an Anzac Day themed livery for Symmons Plains.
The Tasmania SuperSprint will be held from Friday to Sunday. For ticket details visit www.v8supercars.com.au.