Garth Tander hopes his new co-driver Warren Luff is still filthy about being dropped by Red Bull Racing for this year’s V8 Supercars endurance series.

Not because he likes to see him hurt, but because it could help their chances of a top finish in Sunday’s Bathurst 1000.

Luff drove with veteran Craig Lowndes at the frontrunning Holden outfit the past two endurance campaigns, scoring three podiums from four races last year to win the inaugural Enduro Cup.

Despite their success, he was shown the door in December.

The move paved the way for Steve Richards, who defected to Red Bull from Ford Performance Racing after winning the 2013 Great Race with Mark Winterbottom.

All was not lost for Luff, though, with the 38-year-old picking up a seat alongside three-time Bathurst champion Tander at factory-backed rivals Holden Racing Team.

Tander was in need of a new co-driver after his partner of three years Nick Percat – with whom he won the 2011 Bathurst 1000 – was promoted to a full-time racing gig in V8 Supercars.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had someone new come and join me, but Luffy’s been fantastic,” said Tander, who finished third with Luff at last month’s Sandown 500 ahead of Lowndes and Richards in fourth.

“He’s had a huge amount of experience, has got the runs on the board – that’s why we got him.

“The car will always come back; you don’t have to worry about him trying too hard for an audition to try and get a job.”

In fact, it could be the opposite.

While Luff has vowed to move on from losing his seat at Red Bull, Tander reckons the fire might still be burning inside.

“At he press conference at Sandown, one of the journos asked ‘Does it feel a little bit special to beat the car you were in last year?'” Tander said.

“He was very non-committal, saying ‘Nah, nah, it didn’t mean anything, you want to beat everyone’.

“But I was saying ‘Come on mate, of course it does. That’s why I was keeping Lowndesy behind – I was doing it for you’.

“Maybe it does (still drive him).

“And if that means on Sunday, if we’ve got those Red Bull cars behind us and he finds a little extra five or 10 per cent just to keep them there, then it’ll work in our favour.”