BEWARE the caged tiger that hopes to be a charging Red Bull.
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When Garth Tander arrives at Mount Panorama this week for his 22nd Bathurst 1000 campaign, it will be as a co-driver for the first time in his career.
But if anything, being the man who will support Red Bull Holden Racing Team star Shane van Gisbergen has only served to make Tander more hungry for success in the Great Race.
"I'm really looking forward to it. Obviously having not raced Supercars all year you feel like a bit of a caged tiger, you want to get amongst it," he said.
"For me it's a great opportunity to join the best team in Supercars with one of the real form guys in Shane, for me it's a real opportunity to try and add to my success rate at Bathurst.
"Being a co-driver means that all the funny little pressures and all the expectations you build throughout the lead up to the event, you're a bit immune because you are so used to it. You don't brush it off, but you can absorb it a lot more easily."
Having previously driven for Garry Rogers Motorsport and the Holden Racing Team, Tander jokes that "for a long time I was the arch-enemy of Triple Eight."
But after being dumped from a full-time drive by GRM and then offered a co-driver seat by the Triple Eight Race Engineering team, Tander is determined to be the best of allies for van Gisbergen.
READ MORE: Van Gisbergen has got a need for speed
He knows that the Kiwi is just as hungry as him to find success in the 161-lap enduro - perhaps even more so given he has never won the Peter Brock Trophy.
Tander, a three-time Bathurst winner, knows his new team-mate has what it takes to succeed.
"He's been so close there a couple of times in the past. Really it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when for Shane because he's got the runs on the board and achieved success in every other aspect of Supercars - it's only this last one at Bathurst," he said.
"The problem is Bathurst is not just a small thing, it is quite a big deal, so if I can be part of that and help him achieve that it would be fantastic.
"Certainly I know Shane is very hungry for success at the mountain, he hasn't had it there, whereas the other three drivers at the team have had multiple successes. So he's pretty keen to get his name on the leader board."
Tander admits it will be a different experience at Bathurst this year given he will no longer shoulder the responsibility of trying to qualify a car, nor the be driver who is tasked with piloting it over the final, pressure filled stint come Sunday afternoon.
But it is one he is still eagerly anticipating.
"No doubt it does feel a bit different and I've got to keep reminding myself of what my role will be because it's the first time I'm going as the guy who is basically going to be Shane's back up," he said.
"Whereas in the last 21-odd years that I've gone, I've always been the guy who's qualifying, I've been the guy who's the primary driver. I need to make sure I keep reminding myself of that.
"To be honest, I'm really looking forward to sitting and enjoying qualifying and just watching that, because I've never done that before. I don't know how much I will actually enjoy that when it's happening, but I am looking forward to just sitting back and watching."