AUSF3: Oran Park: TanderSport preview

TanderSport will be banking on a solid pre-round test and driver Leanne Tander's consistent successes' at Oran Park to help put together a strong third round of the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship this weekend. The team also ...

Edited: Jul 2, 2009, 5:33 PM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

TanderSport will be banking on a solid pre-round test and driver Leanne Tander's consistent successes' at Oran Park to help put together a strong third round of the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship this weekend.

The team also hopes that new signing Ben Crighton, a young Kiwi driver who will drive the #52 TanderSport National Class entry, can give the team continued success in both top classes within Australia's premier Open Wheel category.

In the three years that the team has been in existence, TanderSport has consistently raced and qualified at the very front at Oran Park.

In the past three visits to the circuit (Twice in 2007 and once in 2006), Leanne Tander has qualified on pole three times from six qualifying sessions -- and she's never started outside of the top four. In the two visits the series paid to the track last year she never finished lower than third.

Tander completed a solid day of running last Monday in the TanderSport #42 F307 in preparation for this weekends' round, and will look to leap up the championship order with a continuation of her strong Sydney form.

Auckland's Ben Crighton comes to TanderSport fresh from finishing a strong 9th in the 2007 / 08 New Zealand Toyota Racing Series, where he has raced since 2005.

25-year-old Crighton is a multiple New Zealand karting champion and also has experience in his domestic Formula Ford championship, finishing fourth in the 2004 New Zealand Grand Prix.

He's not without Australian experience, however, having completed several rounds of the Formula 4000 / Formula Holden championship in 2005 and 2006; included in that campaign was a round at Oran Park, giving him some vital experience at the challenging, undulating circuit.

TanderSport will be in action in two, 17-lap races this Sunday, April 27th.

Leanne Tander - #42 TanderSport Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz

"I'm pretty happy that we have a good race package for Oran Park. Our test day didn't go as well as I would have liked but I'm very confident that when we come to raceday we will have an excellent package.

"Neil (McFadyen, points leader) is a fair way in front so it's clear that he is the target. He's very fast but we need to make sure that I score good points and keep the score ticking over. At times last year I was 20 points -- or more -- behind and was able to come back into contention so we just need to keep scoring; It's a cliche, but there is a long way to go!"

Ben Crighton - #52 TanderSport Dallara F307 Mercedes Benz

"I'm really looking forward to making my Formula 3 debut with TanderSport. I had a good run at Hamilton (in the Toyota Racing Series) and hopefully we can continue that with a good performance this weekend. I have run at Oran Park before so I'm not completely in the dark but it will be a learning experience, getting used to the cars and the series.

"The series looks competitive. I'm not looking at setting the world on fire so I'll be happy if I can run with the top guys in the National Class."

Garth Tander -- TanderSport Co-Owner / Team Manager

"I think we'll be very strong at Oran Park. Leanne traditionally goes very well here so we know we're capable of getting very strong results. We also have a very strong car for Ben that has been on pole here three times from the last three rounds; I'm looking forward to seeing how he goes and it's always exciting to give someone new to the category a run."

-credit: tandersport.com

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article ATS: Rahel Frey with Volkswagen power

Next article AUSF3: Oran Park: Friday practice report

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

8 min

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

43 min

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 59 min

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

1 h

Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts