GARTH Tander will cede his place atop an exclusive list when the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship enduros arrive.
The five-time Bathurst 1000 winner leads the all-time leaderboard of most championship race starts as a one-marque driver.
All 642 of Tander’s races to date have come in Holdens in a decorated career which begun at the Phillip Island round of the 1998 season.
After seven seasons at Garry Rogers Motorsport, Tander switched to the HSV Dealer Team with whom he took out the 2007 title – which remains the most recent Walkinshaw-aligned championship.
With Tander opting to extend his co-driving career, a first race outside of the Holden camp had loomed in 2023, regardless of whether it was with Chevrolet or Ford.
Ultimately, the 45-year-old stunned the industry with a shock move to the Blue Oval via a two-year Grove Racing deal.
Tander has spoken openly of his comfort with a switch to what was long his enemy, noting “you can’t stay loyal to something that doesn’t exist anymore.”
Thus, come the Sandown 500 in September, Tander’s place in the one-make club will be no more.
His successor atop the list will be Greg Murphy, who has re-entered retirement following a wildcard appearance at the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000.
Murphy has some less 199 championship races than Tander but will forever be a Holden-only racer – pending any further competitive cameos.
The top 10 list of most starts for one make will also lose another two members at the Newcastle 500 season-opener, as Nick Percat (Ford) and Macualey Jones (Chevrolet) line up on the grid in non-Holdens for the first time.
Most ATCC/Supercars Championship race starts with one make
1) Garth Tander – Holden – 642
2) Greg Murphy – Holden – 443
3) Cameron McConville – Holden – 331
4) Larry Perkins – Holden – 318
5) Nick Percat – Holden – 288
6) Jason Richards – Holden – 284
7) Mark Larkham – Ford – 237
8) Marcos Ambrose – Ford – 147
9) Macauley Jones – Holden – 146
10) Trevor Ashby – Holden – 128
