Motorsport: Head to head struggle for Supercars

Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen, who has dropped off the pace, will have to be on his game this weekend. Photo / Supplied

The international guests have gone back to their respective homes and it's back to the individual drivers in the V8 Supercars championship to resume their head-to-head battle.

The contrast between the last round on the Gold Coast with all its pomp and glory and this weekend's race, way down south across the Bass Strait, in Tasmania, couldn't be more pronounced.

Gone are the concrete chutes and suspension testing curbs replaced by flat-out straights and brake-hammering corners that go to make up the challenging Symmonds Plains circuit.

Drivers this weekend will be masters of their own destiny and none more so than Craig Lowndes who is challenging his teammate Jamie Whincup for series' honours.

For all intents and purposes, the race for the championship title is between the TeamVodafone duo of Lowndes and Whincup, as their nearest challenger, Stone Brothers Racing Kiwi pilot Shane van Gisbergen, has dropped off the pace.

Until very recently the New Zealander was in the mix to challenge for the title but through various unfortunate circumstances, is now 365 points behind series' leader Whincup. There's still much to play for, though. Van Gisbergen has a number of drivers, including Mark Winterbottom, Garth Tander, Will Davison and Rick Kelly, feathering his neck with hot breath.

Only 419 points cover these five drivers and with three rounds to go, Van Gisbergen will have to be on his game if he's to finish third in the race for the title. "It's a pretty technical track and the racing is always exciting and I'm looking forward to it," said Van Gisbergen from the track.

"We've just got to be solid and cement third in the points. The front guys are a long way ahead really and they're long gone.

"The focus is now just on winning races, and as I said the priority is cementing third.

"The championship is gone but definitely we're not giving up and going after every race."

Van Gisbergen is a relative newcomer to V8 Supercars and to be in a position to hold on to third place by season's end would be a milestone in his short tin-top career so far.

"Finishing third would be awesome and that's a good goal. We have to be like the front guys and keep putting together a good season. It's a soft tyre weekend and our cars are good on them and were looking forward to it.

"Qualifying will be important. In the field last year the top 27 cars were covered by six-tenths of a second. It's hard to pass here but we feel we've improved [in qualifying] and I'm looking forward to putting it down and starting up front," said Van Gisbergen.

Another Kiwi driver to keep an eye on is a resurgent Greg Murphy. Since his move to Kelly Racing and the Pepsi Max car, the four-time Bathurst winner has left a bigger and bigger mark as the season has gone on.

Murphy has hauled in the second most number of points since Phillip Island (Winterbottom has the most) and has moved from 15th to be just three points off Jason Bright in 10th spot.

He has accumulated 247 points and looks poised to pick up a bundle more on a track he likes.

"I actually like the Tassie track. It's a funny little track but an important part of the schedule," said Murphy. "It's a short, tough track that makes it even more important not to make any mistakes. It's good.

"It's a really good feeling to be picking up so many points lately. We had some goals and we were confident that if we made a few little improvements we'd be able to make a positive change in speed and consistency and it's happened.

"Eight in the championship is the aim and we could get it this weekend if everything goes to plan."

The defending round champion, Winterbottom, heads to Tasmania on the back of his first race win of the year at the Gold Coast 600 and has moved to within 13 points of third placed Van Gisbergen.

This weekend's event reverts to the sprint format (minus a Top 10 shootout) with the first 20-minute qualifying session on Saturday determining grid positions for a 50-lap/120km race in the afternoon, and a second 20-minute session determining the positions for a longer 84-lap/200km race on Sunday.

2011 V8 Supercar
Series points after round 11 of 14

1. Jamie Whincup 2517

2. Craig Lowndes 2374

3. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Ford Falcon) 2009

4. Mark Winterbottom 1966

5. Garth Tander 1956

6. Will Davison 1847

7. Rick Kelly 1845

8. Lee Holdsworth 1590

9. Alex Davison 1535

10. Jason Bright 519