Supercars will rack up a major milestone at The Bend SuperSprint, which will be the 600th championship round since the very first in 1960.
The number gives the round even extra relevance as it is the last chance for teams to find the sweet spot ahead of a blockbuster run home which starts with the all important enduros.
It is the seventh Supercars round to be held at the state of the art South Australian venue and first under its new Shell V-Power name, so the track may look slightly different.
On track all will be looking to stop Shane van Gisbergen, who destroyed all comers last year and will be confident of doing something similar having rediscovered some of his best at Sydney.
Download the full Supercars The Bend Round 8 Event Guide with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus extensive driver profiles HERE
A chassis swap did the trick as van Gisbergen was the class driver all weekend and still almost scored a podium after a poor qualifying one on Saturday.
Last year there was no catching car #97 as the Triple Eight team did as it pleased to sweep all three races.
Shane van Gisbergen killed the opposition at The Bend last year. Photo by Mark Horsburgh / LAT Images)
Even when the soaking rain arrived for the final race, van Gisbergen cruised until the penultimate lap to make his compulsory stop and still eased to victory.
It is clear that this may well be the Kiwi’s last trip to The Bend and he needs just one win to become the most successful driver ever at the South Australian circuit.
SVG is fresh from another trip to the US where he recorded a pair of solid results in the NASCAR Cup and Truck Series at Indianapolis.
Joining him was championship leader Brodie Kostecki, who raced for RCR and climbed from last to 22nd.
Kostecki now faces the challenge of overcoming jet lag and collecting as many points as possible to extend his advantage ahead of the enduros.
He may have winning form from Sydney and possess the points lead, but all eyes will be on the other side of the garage.
Will Brown may be racing to score a championship for Erebus this year, but in the future he will be racing for the rivals and it will be interesting to see if the bombshell announcement has an impact on the state of play.
Can Cam Waters and Ford fire back at The Bend and challenge Erebus and Triple Eight? Photo by Mark Horsburgh / LAT Images
On the Ford side of the camp, it hopes another new engine map has discovered treasure at the European style circuit.
There will be no greater test for the recently implemented rear aero update than the high-load and never ending right-hander linking up turns seven to nine.
Three 20-lap sprints will highlight the Supercars action that will be crammed into two busy days with practice starting at 10.20 AEST Saturday morning.
Supercars will race exclusively with the soft tyre, while Touring Car Masters, S5000, Super Utes, Toyota 86s and Porsche Carrera Cup Australia are the support categories.
Download the full Supercars The Bend Round 8 Event Guide with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus extensive driver profiles HERE
This week Nascar was the focus with SVG and Brodie Kostecki making their way to the Indy road course, while Rodney Jane let some loose on the Thunderdome at Calder, while we also preview The Bend as the Supercars silly season hots up.
Listen to our latest podcast episode on your podcast app of choice orhere on Apple Podcasts.
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