HELPING Shane van Gisbergen to a career first and helping the Holden Racing team to a fairy tale farewell, Garth Tander felt honoured to play a role in both those special Bathurst 1000 moments on Sunday.
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The experienced 43-year-old did a stellar job as van Gisbergen's co-driver in the #97 Red Bull Holden Racing Team Commodore.
While it was his Kiwi team-mate who did the final stint and claimed the chequered flag, Tander was integral to the success.
It was Tander's fourth Bathurst 1000 win, while van Gisbergen got to stand on the top tier of the Great Race podium for the first time.
"It was a real motivation for me when I joined the team last year, if I could, to help Shane secure his first win," Tander said.
"It was just really cool to sit back and watch those last 60 laps and watch how he managed the race, managed the stints, and obviously Cam [Waters] was very, very fast.
"It's a really pleasure to be part of that, so I'll enjoy this one."
Helping van Gisbergen tick a box was not the only reason why Sunday's win was one Tander will long relish. It also came in the final Bathurst appearance of a factory-backed Holden.
"It's obviously very, very special for the entire team.The official Holden factory team have so much history here at Bathurst and to secure a victory in its final every representation is very special," he said.
"It certainly was a bit of motivation coming into this one, we all knew since February's announcement that Holden is no more after this year.
"Holden and Bathurst have been so synonymous for so long, and it's a very, very special honour to now have three of the four wins in the factory Holden team.
"I've been fortunate to have had a very strong relationship with Holden since 1998 and it's been a real honour to drive their race cars for various teams.
"Bathurst means a lot to the Holden people ... so it's very, very special."
