The more things change in V8 Supercars, the more they stay the same.
Going into the showpiece Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama on Sunday, there have been 13 different race winners from eight teams in this season’s 10 championship rounds to date.
On paper, the Car of the Future specifications adopted this year have delivered the level playing field V8 championship organisers could have only dreamed about when Nissan and Mercedes announced they’d return in 2013.
Yet the threats for this year’s Bathurst title – and the series crown – can still be counted on one hand ahead of the 161-lap epic.
Nissan will launch their first assault on the mountain since they controversially sealed back-to-back wins in a rain-shortened 1992 race met by boos from the Holden and Ford fan hordes.
And Mercedes enters for the first time since 1994.
However, the 2013 Bathurst 1000 script still looks set to make familiar reading.
Series leader Jamie Whincup and Holden teammate Craig Lowndes along with Ford threat Will Davison again loom large after filling the podium at Bathurst’s traditional warm-up, the Sandown 500.
The V8 championship points standings ram home their dominance.
Every top 10 driver in the standings has savoured at least one race win this year.
Yet four-time series winner Whincup (1st; 2147 points), veteran Lowndes (2nd; 2051) and Davison (3rd; 2050) are clearly the men to beat for the championship ahead of the crunch Bathurst round.
Not that Davison is getting ahead of himself in his best chance at a maiden V8 championship title since his second overall in 2009.
Bathurst has that effect.
Davison was all smiles when crowned King of the Mountain in 2009 but it has largely ended in tears for him since.
The past two years Davison laid down the law to qualify in the front row of the Bathurst grid, only for Murphy’s law to kick in.
In 2011 his co-driver found the wall while last year Davison narrowly escaped a potentially fatal situation when his brakes failed and his Ford spun at just under 300kph exiting the circuit’s fastest section, infamous Conrod Straight.
“I am determined this year to have a cleaner run with no issues,” said Davison.
“I have been distraught the last two years leaving there, because we were in contention then it has all been turned on its head.
“But it is the type of event that always makes you come back. It is still a very special event to me.
“Regardless of whatever else happens during the year Bathurst can have a big impact on your year – and your life.”
Lowndes has left Bathurst flashing his trademark smile more often than not.
He may be still sweating on his first championship since 1999 – and fourth overall – but the now 38-year-old once dubbed “The Kid” is synonymous with Mount Panorama success.
Ahead of his 20th consecutive Bathurst start, Lowndes has won five times including four in the past seven years.
He has achieved 11 podiums, two pole positions and holds the famed circuit’s record lap time.
There’s not much more Lowndes can achieve at Bathurst.
Yet like Davison, Lowndes still feels he has unfinished business.
“Winning the championship is a huge achievement because you have got the whole year right,” said Lowndes.
“But Bathurst is singularly the biggest race of the year. Globally it is the most recognised. For me it is all about Bathurst.”
While it’s hard to wipe the smile off Lowndes’ face, Red Bull Racing teammate Whincup hopes to do just that with a fifth Bathurst win.
Defending champion Whincup has made no secret of his desire to complete the 500-1000 double for a fourth time, equalling Peter Brock’s record.
He is on track after overcoming pit stop and drive-through penalty dramas to claim the Sandown crown with Paul Dumbrell, the man who helped him taste 2012 Bathurst success.
It marked the fourth time in six years Whincup had emerged triumphant after three straight with Lowndes for Ford from 2006.
Whincup will have one hand on a fifth drivers’ championship if he wins at Bathurst, delivering a major blow to Lowndes’ chances of ending his 14-year title drought.
Nissan and Mercedes will also dare to dream at Bathurst after emerging as big improvers.
It took 70 staff and $16 million just to get Nissan’s four-pronged attack to the starting line for the season opener in Adelaide in March.
Some 21 months after the V8 team started work on a yet-to-be released Altima road car, Nissan will line up at Bathurst for the first time in 21 years.
And they hope to make a statement after claiming a remarkable 1-2 race finish at Winton in August.
Westfield heiress Betty Klimenko has likewise pumped millions of her own cash into her Mercedes team and, like Nissan, is finally seeing some results.
Lee Holdsworth reeled in 15 places to finish fourth at Sandown – the team’s best result of the year.
