THE V8 Supercar Championship heads across the Nullarbor this weekend as the stars and cars visit the popular Barbagallo Raceway for the penultimate round in this year's series.
Australia's premier motorsport category has visited the West Australian circuit at Wanneroo, 35km north of Perth, on 32 two occasions, a regular stop for the heroes of horsepower since 1978.
Only Sandown Raceway in Victoria (39) has hosted more championship rounds.
Both practice sessions, qualifying and when to run the soft tyre option will be critical to the outcome in both races on the challenging 2.4 kilometre circuit that combines some high speed straights with several sweeping and relatively tight turns.
A car's set-up needs to be right on the money as tyre preservation on the very abrasive sand swept circuit is one of the main ingredients for success, a pointy end finish and a major haul of the all important championship points.
Current Supercar champion Jamie Whincup will be looking to another round win after dominating both races at the previous round at Phillip Island and for the first time since 1993 and for only the second time in the Australian touring cars 50 year championship's history, the champion could be decided in Western Australia.
With 300 series points up for grabs in WA and Whincup already holding a 122 point lead over his nearest rival, Triple 888's star steerer could claim back to back series titles before the grand finale street race at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney.
Holden fans will be looking to grab back some bragging rights at Barbagallo, after Whincup dominated at the Island and put a serious dent in the championship hopes of his two nearest rivals, Holden factory pair Will Davison and Garth Tander.
Holden has a good record at Barbagallo, winning nine of the last 12 meetings and with Tander returning to his home circuit and Davison hell bent on taking the championship fight right up to Whincup both HRT steerers will leave nothing on the track and have the teams two red Commodores wound-up and pumping out their allotted 650bhp.
Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards will be aiming to improve on his two round wins at the WA circuit after some poor recent form and regards Barbagallo high on his list of track favourites, while teammate Mark Winterbottom will return to the west with a fair amount of confidence after scoring three wins from as many starts in 2008.
Championship table: Jamie Whincup - 2905; Will Davison - 2783; Garth Tander - 2565; Craig Lowndes - 2292.
SETO BACK FOR CLASSIC
Nissan will return to its motorsport roots in Australia this month when former team driver Glenn Seton embarks on his first tarmac rally in this year's Adelaide Classic.
Nissan's entry of a new 370Z Coupe for the two-time V8 Supercar champion, plus two other 370Z models for media and guest drivers, marks the company's return to the sport or the first time since the famous GT-R 'Godzilla' coupes won three successive Australian Touring Car Championships from 1990-1992.
In 1987, 22-year-old Glenn Seton came within a whisker of winning the Australian Touring Car Championship in a Nissan Skyline DR30, while the R32 GT-R 'Godzilla' which race debuted in 1990 promptly ended the reign of the previously all-conquering Ford Sierra Cosworths, winning Bathurst in 1991 and 1992 and taking three straight touring car titles from 1990-1992 in the hands of Jim Richards and Mark Skaife.
At Classic Adelaide, Seton will have similar power to his 1987 Bathurst car - 245kW in the new V6-engine naturally aspirated 370Z compared with 246kW in the 2.0 litre turbocharged, four-cylinder Skyline DR30 - but says the cars are totally different to drive.
"The DR30 was a beast," he recalled after revisiting the car for a guest-drive in an Historic Group A race at Oran Park last year, "but the 370Z is a well-balanced, powerful and thoroughly enjoyable sports coupe. It will be a lot of fun to drive on Classic Adelaide roads."
JUST SUPER
Talks are underway between V8 Supercars Australian and Superbike organisers into holding half the 2010 Australian Superbike Championship rounds in conjunction with the V8 Supercar Championship Series.
The popular '2×4' race program concept was trialled at Phillip Island in September this year.
Superbike organisers are pushing to have four of its rounds (Queensland Raceway, Winton, Phillip Island and Symmons Plains) as a main support class to the V8s.
Superbikes and touring cars have shared race meetings previously in the late-80s and early-90s, but they have not run together on a full-time basis since 1993.
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