Garth Tander turns chauffeur

As a three-time winner of the Bathurst 1000, he’s used to driving fast. But he’ll be dropping the pace in stints as a volunteer driver for leukaemia patients.

The V8 Supercar star’s chauffer duties tie in with the donation of 17 new Holden Commodores to the Leukaemia Foundation.

As a Holden ambassador, Tander made a special appearance at the Ipswich 300 round to help announce the donation, which is the latest initiative in seven years of vehicle supply to the Foundation.

Among the happiest to be there was four-year-old former leukaemia patient Maggie, who was diagnosed when she was just six hours old and began chemotherapy at two weeks.

Happily, Maggie is now in full remission but was delighted at the chance to meet Tander and get a close look at the special livery for the patient transport cars.

Over the past seven years the patient transport program has transported over 6,300 blood cancer patients to and from treatment free of charge. 

During treatment, blood cancer patients are highly susceptible to infections and therefore public transport must be avoided. Holden has an ongoing program that sees their cars do service for the patients.

“We are very grateful to Holden for their ongoing support and commitment since 2002,” Leukaemia Foundation CEO Peter Cox said. 

“The previous Holden sponsored cars have travelled over 2.8 million kilometres – equal to sixty-nine laps around the globe.”

Holden paid tribute to the important work the Foundation undertakes, and which the carmaker says it is keen to support.

"The Leukaemia Foundation provides an enormously valuable service to people with blood cancer and we aim to assist in as many ways as possible,” Holden spokesperson Maya Donevska said.

“To be able to donate 17 Commodores is an important milestone in our relationship with the Foundation.”