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Leanne Tander and Chris Reindler ready to take two-car TanderSport to the top at Eastern Creek |
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Monday, 28 January 2008 |
Leanne Tander and Christopher
Reindler will form a two-pronged TanderSport class attack on the opening round
of the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship at Eastern Creek
Raceway next weekend.
Tander will be out to challenge for the 2008 Gold
Star title from the very first round, whilst Reindler will make his championship
debut driving the car in which Leanne finished 2nd last season, though he will
contest for honours in the Opes Prime National Class
It will mark the first time that TanderSport, formed in late 2005 by Garth and
Leanne Tander, will run two cars in the Formula 3 Championship.
After
finishing a narrow second last year, Tander has targeted a strong start to the
2008 championship to ensure that she takes as many points as possible away from
the opening round – in contrast to her difficult start to last years season that
saw her sit a lowly 6th in points after the A1GP meeting.
Tander has
completed a week of solid testing and development in her new TanderSport Dallara
F307 – Mercedes Benz chassis at Eastern Creek, and finished by setting times two
seconds underneath the official F3 lap record.
West Australian Reindler,
18, follows in the footsteps of his older brother Karl by joining the 2008
Australian Formula 3 Championship thanks to his one-round deal with TanderSport.
Karl won the 2004 Championship and the younger Reindler, who tested with
TanderSport at Eastern Creek last week, believes that he can be a leading
challenger in the ultra competitive Opes Prime National Class, where competitors
will fight for either $40,000 cash or the chance to negotiate a fully-funded
championship class drive in 2009.
He raced selected rounds of the
Australian Formula Ford championship last season and has also tested other
Formula 3 cars in the past, giving him a solid base of information with which to
draw on next weekend.
TanderSport will field two cars at the season
opener however the team hopes to field its second new Dallara F307 in the
remaining rounds of the championship.
More information about TanderSport
can be found at www.tandersport.com
Leanne Tander - #42
TanderSport Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz
“Our week of testing
ended well on Friday and the team continued to learn a lot about the new car. We
got down to some very competitive times in the end and worked out how the car
responds to changes, so it was a very productive end to the week,” Leanne
enthused.
”It is a priority to start the season strongly and be in
contention from the very first round of the championship. We came so close last
season – If we had found two more points throughout the season it would have
been a different result so scoring strongly at the first round is absolutely
important.
”I learnt a lot last season. This year will be about
minimising mistakes and lowering the chances of other people crashing into you
or forcing you into an error.
”If anything this years field is even more
competitive because everyone that will fight for the championship has experience
in these cars, or similar categories, and has been successful in them. This will
be a very competitive year and I’m really looking forward to getting back on
track.”
Chris Reindler - #52 TanderSport Dallara F304 Spiess Opel
(National Class)
“I’m really excited to be making my debut at
Eastern Creek,” Chris Reindler said.
”The test day with TanderSport went
really well. Karl (Reindler, his older brother and 2004 F3 champion) ran through
some stuff before the day which was a big help – it’s great to have someone with
that experience to get ideas and information from.
”I was really
impressed with the car and really impressed with the team. They were very
professional and very thorough with the data and setup of the car. It’s only my
first Formula 3 race so I don’t have huge expectations but I would really like
to challenge for the National Class win. My times were good in testing and
Leanne and Garth have a lot of confidence in me, so its something I’m really
looking forward to.”
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