Garth Tander was surprisingly dropped by Garry Rogers Motorsport in favour of Richie Stanaway ahead of the 2019 Supercars Championship season.

The 2007 Supercars champion is currently without a contract and could be set for a co-driver role.

“I’m grateful for the start that Garry gave me in Supercars and understand his decision to end my full-time driving career,” said Tander.

“I’m now going to take a deep breath and consider my future that won’t be at GRM. I wish the team well for the future.”

Team owner Garry Rogers explained his decision to drop the 41-year-old in an official statement:

“It obviously comes as a surprise to most that Garth will not be driving at GRM in 2019. On Garth’s return to GRM in 2017 he was guaranteed two years of full-time driving and a management role following that,” said Rogers.

“There were many aspects to my decision including that Garth was nearing the end of his career and has expressed that 2019 could be his final full-time season as a driver. I was very conscious of the fact that I would be both the one that started and ended Garth’s full-time Supercar career and this weighed heavily on me.

“In a perfect world I would absolutely have loved to give Garth the send-off that a champion deserves, but I never lost sight that motorsport, although centred around the driver, is about the team and not any one individual.”