KEY POINTS:
This weekend's penultimate round of the Supercar V8s at Symmons Plains Raceway, Tasmania, is vital for the series title contenders.
Championship leader, Holden's Garth Tander (530 points), looking for a hat-trick of wins at Symmons Plains, heads Ford drivers and teammates Craig Lowndes (510) and Jamie Whincup (501) with fellow Holden driver Rick Kelly (496) back in fourth.
Tander has won five of the past six races at the 2.4km circuit and holds the record for the fastest V8 lap there - 51.68sec, set in qualifying last year.
Defending Supercar V8 champion Kelly came fourth in Tasmania last year, overtaking Lowndes to become series leader - something he will be hoping to repeat.
Kelly needs to close the 34-point gap on Tander and force the championship battle into the last round at Phillip Island.
Further down the field Holden drivers Todd Kelly and Paul Morris are hoping to put their differences behind them. The duo have crashed into each other three times in the past two rounds. Morris, who was voted in a recent poll as the most dangerous driver in the field, has suggested he and Todd Kelly have moved on, but said, "he [Kelly] can be too aggressive sometimes, particularly when he's trying to weave his way through the middle of the pack. He has to have more respect for the car he's driving."
For Holden teammates Tander and Rick Kelly, the main aim will be to keep the door closed on Ford rivals Lowndes and Whincup.
After winning the Bahrain round, Tasmanian Mark Winterbottom will have his eye on the prize, and will be looking to close the gap on the leaders on his home track. Two seconds and a third meant the FPR driver finished third overall on the tight, technical track last year.
Kiwis Greg Murphy and Jason Richards are looking forward to getting back on a circuit with a decent amount of grip. Their recent good form came unstuck on the smooth, fast circuit in Bahrain.
"We're both looking forward to Tasmania," said Jason Richards. "The car has been getting better and better and Bahrain was a bit of a disappointment. But Tasmania is a circuit with good grip so we should do well."
Young kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen is continuing to prove he can mix it with the big boys and improves with each round. He will head to Symmonds Plains with his points tally now in double figures.
Meanwhile, the V8s are set to return to next year's Australian round of the Formula One championships on March 13-16.
The much anticipated return of the thundering V8s to Albert Park will be enhanced by a new format - red versus blue, or, in other words, Holden versus Ford.
Under the new format, qualifying will determine pole position as usual, but once a Ford or Holden is on pole, all cars of that make will line up behind them on the same side, fastest to slowest for that make. The other manufacturer will then line up beside them in the same order.
At the end of each of the three races points will be tallied to determine which manufacturer has the lead. Points will be carried over from race to race, and although the lead may change over the weekend, the overall winning make of car may not be known until the end of the final race on Sunday afternoon.
