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A new challenger has emerged in the 2017 Supercars title race as the series heads west across the Nullarbor for the Perth SuperSprint.
Prodrive Racing Australia threw their hat into the championship ring with a convincing one-two finish in Sunday’s race at Phillip Island last time out, ending a victory drought for the Ford squad dating back to this time last year.
Chaz Mostert claimed the honours during that gruelling second race, notching up his first win since before his horrific accident at the 2015 Bathurst 1000, while former Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom made a welcome return to the podium.
The numbers speak in favour of the Ford team heading to Barbagallo Raceway in Perth – the last five pole positions have been swept up by the Prodrive outfit.
Winterbottom himself tasted victory 12 months ago at Barbagallo, and he achieved two wins in the year before that.
However, only six of the last 19 outings at the short and undulating Perth circuit have been won from pole position.
This weekend will come down to strategy and tyre management. Craig Lowndes infamously succumbed to his wearing Dunlop rubber in the third race in the 2015 event, and former Erebus driver Will Davison was able to break through for a surprise win with the then-Mercedes team.
Degradation, then, is quite high at this track, and caution will be exercised regarding the new compounds of Dunlop tyres after numerous blowouts at Phillip Island.
Having a third team in the hunt now for the championship will make for some tantalising action – the top five drivers in the standings are covered by only 97 points, and a total of 300 points are on offer this weekend.
With two wins to his name in 2017 Fabian Coulthard leads the points tally for DJR Team Penske ahead of reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen, for whom Barbagallo is a bogey circuit, as was Phillip Island.
Their respective teammates in Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup remain winless thus far, though both are nestled well inside the top five coming to a circuit where both have scored wins in the past.
Beyond the key protagonists, it is never wise to rule out the likes of Lowndes, who has been strong in Perth regardless of 2015’s tyre troubles.
Elsewhere, Erebus’s solid results in Phillip Island with David Reynolds will be encouraging as they arrive at the scene of their 2015 win in the moribund Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG.
Garry Rogers Motorsport too stood on the podium at Phillip Island, which was a significant result considering the late switch from Volvo to Holden the Victorian squad endured in the offseason after the Swedish marque’s shock withdrawal from the category.
Perth-born Garth Tander, who stood on the podium for GRM at Phillip Island, made himself a winner at Barbagallo Raceway during his title-winning 2007 season.
Another wild weekend looms for the Supercars, and with Prodrive boasting strong form during the DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight rivalry, it’s anyone’s win at this stage.
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