Motorsport: Recognise this view?

Holden has consistently had the edge over Ford at Pukekohe.

Greg Murphy reckons it must be the local support - the Ford boys by now probably think it has something to do with Pukekohe potatoes and the luck of the Irish.

But the record is unchallenged. Of all the tracks where the Australian V8 Supercars race regularly, Pukekohe is the only one where Ford has never won a round.

And Murphy's Holden has been responsible for all but one of those wins.

In fact, before Pukekohe became part of the championship, the V8s came over for a preliminary canter - and Murphy and Holden won that.

The irony is that the most successful Ford team are run by brothers Ross and Jimmy Stone, who have provided cars for Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall to win championships.

And the Stones grew up within a V8's roar of the track.

"There is no doubt that an outright win at Pukekohe is one box that Ross and Jimmy have not ticked yet and I desperately want to help them achieve that," said Ingall.

"I finished second in every race last year, but still couldn't knock off Murph [Greg Murphy].

"I thought we had lost the chance to collect a win here when there was talk of running an Auckland street race, but I guess we have just a couple of more chances.

"I would rather get the job done this weekend, than having to wait until next year."

Ingall has had his successes on the track. Before he graduated to V8s, he was a very successful Formula Ford driver and he blew away the locals during a campaign across the Tasman.

Stone Brothers have had a slow start to the season by their high standards and the Ford banner was carried by the Triple Eight team at the first round in Adelaide.

Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup were the only Fords to make the top 10 in qualifying and new-boy Whincup won the round. "I'm very confident in the ability of the car and the team's handle on the track, after all Craig [Lowndes] did have pole here last year," said Whincup.

"The main thing is to score consistent results and come away with a straight car; hopefully this will help me to maintain my championship lead.

"I'll be looking for a mix of aggression and patience in the reverse grid race, it's obviously good to finish well but races 1 and 3 are most important.

"There will be a lot of variables in terms of weather and car handling, and the driver who can manage all of these most effectively is going to come out on top."

Of the Holden drivers Murphy has the track savvy and the emotional drive, but there is enormous strength in depth.

Garth Tander and Rick Kelly have propelled the Toll Team into first place in the team championship - 65 points clear of second-placed Jack Daniels Racing, whose lead driver is expatriate Kiwi Steven Richards.

Kelly collected 305 points in round one - just five points behind Whincup - while Tander scored 270 and sits equal fourth with Richards. But everybody is talking about the revival in the fortunes of the Holden Racing Team after a low-key period for the most successful team in this most competitive of categories.

At Adelaide, Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly qualified first and second and, while Skaife had two race crashes and came away with no points, Kelly was on the podium. In a borrowed car Skaife was again very competitive in the non-championship races at Melbourne.

The top 20 cars are usually separated by fractions of a second in qualifying and Pukekohe's fast 2.82km circuit has few passing opportunities so good qualifying and pit work are essential. Throw in a reverse-grid race and nobody will be too confident at this early stage of the season.


V8 standings

1 Jamie Whincup 310
2 Rick Kelly 305
3 Todd Kelly 290
4 Steven Richards 270
5 Garth Tander 270
6 Russell Ingall 250
7 Paul Dumbrell 240
8 Steven Johnson 235
9 Max Wilson 210
10 Will Davison 195
11 Paul Morris 190
12 John Bowe 165
13 Warren Luff 165
14 Craig Lowndes 160
15 Paul Radisich 155
16 Jose Fernandez 150
17 Andrew Jones 150
18 Cameron McConville 145
19 Dean Canto 140
20 Greg Murphy 140
21 Jason Bright 130
22 Mark Winterbottom 125
23 Lee Holdsworth 120
24 Alan Gurr 115
25 Jason Richards 115
26 Jason Bargwanna 110
27 Brad Jones 65
28 Marcus Marshall 45
29 James Courtney 0
30 Steve Owen 0
31 Mark Skaife 0