R4 PREVIEW - Unlikely leader set to continue dominance
27/4/2000 14:28 (Jason Whittaker) - Few would have thought that by Round 4 of the Shell Series, a driver would be leading the Championship without having won a race. Fewer would have thought that man would be Garth Tander.
Yet, on the eve of this weekend's Round 4 Ford V Holden clash at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway, this is the scenario we currently enjoy.
Consistency has been the main ingredient for Tander's 2000 success, winning two of the three SCS rounds (as well as an overall win at point-less Albert Park) thanks to some impressive driving and an equally impressive piece of machinery.
Despite his scoreless race-win tally, Tander now dominates the SCS with a 54-point, Lowndes-like early season lead.
"I am feeling quite confident going into the Eastern Creek weekend," the 24-year-old West Australian said. "We did well there last year and I think the car is well suited to the track. I believe we can continue our good form of late."
"The Holden Racing Team will be our main rivals although Radisich, Seton and Ingall should also be very competitive," Tander said.
A lack of race wins is certainly not a problem over in the Holden Racing Team garage. Between them, Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes (2nd and 5th in the Championship respectively) have claimed six of a possible seven race victories. Returning to the 20-min sprint race format, HRT would seem the team most likely, this weekend.
"Eastern Creek is a circuit I thoroughly enjoy, with a fast straight into one of the quickest corners in the country," reigning SCS champ, Craig Lowndes said. "It's a real challenge for both the driver and the team's engineers to find an ideal set up between the fast and slow parts of the track."
While consistency has been the key for Tander, inconsistency must be a concern for the Factory outfit. Mechanical mishaps have been costly for the team (including two DNF's in points-rich Adelaide) and Lowndes knows this will have to improve for him to repeat his efforts of previous years.
"I see the Creek as a real turning point in the Shell Series because if I can do well, then I can start hauling back Garth's big points lead," the 26-year-old said.
"It's all very well to have won five of the seven Championship races to date but as it was shown last year, winning the Series is all about consistency and I'll need to be very consistent from here," Lowndes said.
Mark Skaife's emphatic last-to-first victory in Adelaide is sure to give the HRT hero plenty of confidence coming into Eastern Creek, a round which Skaife dominated last year.
"Hopefully my win in the second race in Adelaide signals a turn around in my Shell Championship Series chances," Skaife said.
"I like the Eastern Creek Circuit and it's a track that both the team and I have done well at. Back to the sprint round format means qualifying and the race starts will be critical if I am to close the points gap on Garth (Tander)," he said.
Meanwhile, the ever-improving Blue Oval brigade have a point to prove, particularly when it comes to the sprint-race format, at Eastern Creek this weekend.
While Adelaide enduro form was positive for much of the Ford camp, the qualifying pace and pure speed required for the sprint events has been lacking in many a Ford campaign the last few rounds.
In what could only be described as an up-and-down season, Glenn Seton has shown he has enough runs on the board to be a competitive force this weekend.
In an exciting late-race dual with Lowndes in Adelaide on the Saturday, Seton gave the many thousands of Ford fans plenty to cheer about, almost snatching the race win. Seton heads to the 'Creek looking for revenge.
"It's great for me and the team to be up into fourth in the Championship standings. We are back on track and heading in the right direction, which is good for our championship campaign and will hopefully bring us some race wins," the FTR campaigner said.
The team will detour to Winton Raceway for a test session prior to practice beginning at Eastern Creek on Friday.
"It's a long season and at the moment we are in a healthy position. I would have liked to go one place higher in the first race in Adelaide but maybe we can do that at Eastern Creek," Seton said.
It is DJR man Paul Radisich however who has emerged as Ford's best "blue" hope. Currently lying third in the Championship, the Kiwi ace is ready to strike and hungry for his debut SCS victory.
Making his SCS full-time debut this year, Steven Johnson too is ready to break into the winners circle. After an often difficult initiation, outstanding performances in Adelaide will give the 26-year-old boy with the legendary name, plenty of confidence.
"The year started out a little slowly for me, but we've been able to sort things out and I'm now in a much stronger position in the championship," Johnson said.
"As we all know, consistency is the key to the Shell Series and I know I'm capable of a top five finish in each of the sprint rounds from here on. As long as I can maintain that we'll be in a strong position at the end of the championship when it counts most."
Meanwhile, both Paul Romano and Brad Jones will be in action this weekend after massive rebuilds following accidents in Adelaide three weeks ago.
Jones was the biggest looser from a treacherous weekend in Adelaide, with his AU Falcon suffering extensive damage in a massive roll-over on the Saturday.
The team has worked non-stop to have the car repaired in time for Round 4, as Ozemail Team Manager Kim Jones says.
"We've made some changes to the car as we have made repairs and hopefully we won't have lost too much ground, if any, when we get to Eastern Creek," he said.
| |
