AN investigation into Garth Tander’s scary Sandown 500 crash is on the cards, although Grove Racing’s owner left little doubt as to where he feels the blame lies.
“The issue with Tander was a faulty design on a wheel nut, so not a team or driver error,” said Stephen Grove.
Tander was in the midst of a strong start to the race, having gained four spots to be running fourth when the left-rear wheel suddenly detached from his #26 Penrite Mustang on Lap 19.
It couldn’t have happened at an untimelier moment; as Tander ploughed into the high-speed Esses, he was pitched into a spin and into the fence on the run to Dandenong Road.
Topping it off, the stray wheel flew into the path of the next-best Ford, Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters/James Moffat, ruining their race as their rear wing was ripped off.
“It just fell off,” a bemused Tander told V8 Sleuth.
“It’s not like the wheel was loose. The three other wheels on my car didn’t fall off, the four other wheels on the other car (#19 teammates Matt Payne/Kevin Estre) didn’t fall off, so it’s not our torque setting.
“It was a brand-new wheel nut, to the brand-new specification for this weekend, I’m told.
“So yeah, there needs to be a bit of an investigation into that.”
Grove team principal David Cauchi told V8 Sleuth: “We’ve gone over the car and all the right procedures were followed, we can see that.
“We have got to try to understand what was different or what’s happened on that wheel but at the moment it’s a big question mark.”
The sister car of Payne/Estre was the first Ford home in sixth, behind a Camaro quintet led by Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup.
Tander and David Reynolds have another shot at success together at next month’s Repco Bathurst 1000 – an event they have both previously conquered.
V8 Sleuth’s coverage of the 2023 Penrite Oil Sandown 500 is proudly presented by Biante – Fuel your passion with winning model cars. Visit Biante here to check out their range of model cars in a range of scales from 1:64 to 1:10.
