Motorsport: Tander hoping home track inspires improvement

Garth Tander drives the #2 Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF. Photo / Getty Images

Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander hopes a return to home comforts can fire up his V8 Supercars campaign.

Tander returns to his native state of Western Australia for this weekend's meet at Barbagallo hoping to cast aside average results in Tasmania and at Phillip Island.

Holden Racing Team (HRT) started the series with a bang; James Courtney won race one at Clipsal, one of three podiums for the team at the season-opener.

Since then, the well has run dry as the Commodores have struggled with qualifying and race set-up.

"The last two, we haven't got the car in the sweet spot," he told AAP.

"The category's so competitive, if you haven't got the car completely right, it can punish you.

"We've identified a couple of areas (and) the package that we've got this weekend will be better."

The series heads to WA amid news of the end of manufacturer support from Volvo, one of just four brands in the sport.

With Mercedes leaving after 2015, Ford supported by dealer teams and Volvo leaving after this season, the move also returns the spotlight to Holden who are yet to commit long term to the series.

Volvo's decision will have major ramifications for the grid in 2017, with leading Volvo man Scott McLaughlin unlikely to continue in an uncertain environment.

While his destination is likely to be DJR Team Penske, HRT is in the mix, or at least will be caught up in the flow-on effects of any driver swaps.

Tander, 39, is out of contract himself and could move on from his HRT drive of nine years but says he's not worried.

"It's out of my hands and there's not much you can do about it," he said.

"What's happened with the Volvo is disappointing for the entire sport.

"Holden won't be looking at what Volvo are doing and making a decision on that; they have much bigger plans that'll roll out over the coming months."

He said his manager was involved in "positive talks" with his team, and he would focus on Barbagallo.

"For everyone else, it's just a regular round but, for me, it's one of the highlights."