The V8 Supercars drought broke for the Holden Racing Team (HRT) last round but key driver Garth Tander admits they will be feeling a little underprepared when they arrive for the Ipswich event this weekend.
Tander ended long suffering, factory-backed HRT’s 58-race winless streak with a stirring last-start victory in Townsville in a one-two finish with teammate James Courtney.
It also marked HRT’s first quinella since Sandown in 2009.
However, Tander admitted on Thursday that Melbourne-based HRT would again be behind the eight ball at Ipswich’s Queensland Raceway – the test track for a majority of their V8 foes including Holden front-runners Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
“This is the first event this season where someone else has got previous information,” Tander told AAP.
“Everywhere else everyone has been starting from scratch.
“This weekend pretty much half the field have a head start on us.
“We know we are heading into enemy territory this weekend.”
Then there’s HRT’s woeful recent Ipswich record.
Both Tander and Courtney have failed to qualify in the top 10 at the track in the past two years.
And in the last five races at Ipswich, Tander has been able to manage just one top-10 finish – a sixth place in 2011.
But overall Tander – one of only three drivers to have competed at every Ipswich race since its 1999 inception – has six race wins at the track including a clean sweep in 2007.
“Recent history it hasn’t been a happy hunting ground but prior to that we have had fantastic success,” he said.
“And our car has been getting better relative to everyone else.
“To be honest I felt it would be a matter of when not if we would win a race this year.
“The challenge is now being a front-runner on a more consistent basis.”
Defending champion Whincup (1591 points) leads the series ahead of Lowndes (1480) and Ford’s Will Davison (1376), with Tander (1302) sixth in the congested championship.
But three-time V8 champion Lowndes looms as the man to beat at Ipswich despite not landing a podium finish in Townsville.
Lowndes has won the last five races at Ipswich and has been buoyed by last week’s successful test session at the track.
He is closer to four-time V8 champion Whincup at this point of the season than he has ever been since the current points system was introduced in 2008.
“A bad weekend like Townsville puts our feet back on the ground,” Lowndes told the V8 Supercars website.
“But we are not sitting still. We are working hard to get that momentum again.”
In contrast, Whincup is winless from the last eight races at Queensland Raceway.
The super sprint format returns at Ipswich with the 120km Saturday event held over two 20-lap, 60km races.
Two 120km events will be held on Sunday.
Practice starts on Friday.