Winton Raceway is the next stop on the V8 Supercars calendar and the Holden Racing Team heads there this weekend for what will be their 300th ATCC/V8 Supercars round start – an important milestone in the team’s 25th anniversary year.

The biggest news in the lead up to this event is teams will be allocated one extra set of hard tyres which can only be used in Friday practice, at the end of the day they will be surrendered back to Dunlop. This will assist the team in making base line comparisons and to reconfirm set up work done during the practice sessions.

A notoriously twisting and winding circuit, Winton is the slowest track the V8s race at and provides very little opportunity for passing.

Garth Tander, along with three other drivers, stands to break the Winton race wins record which currently sits at five.

Garth Tander, #2 Holden Commodore VF:
“Winton has a very slow average speed and reasonable grip level but quite bumpy. It’s not what you call a fast track. There are many slow corners so a lot of rear grip for drive traction off the slow corners.”

“Good rear grip is important for leaving the corner, but in slow corners you also need a lot of front grip mid-corner to get the car to turn. So you can set the car up for rear grip and drive traction but that comes at a compromise and you don’t have as much steer.”

“It’s difficult to overtake at Winton. There are really only two legitimate passing opportunities and even they are a bit sketchy as far as risk.”

“They are high risk passing opportunities. At turn one there is a passing opportunity, on the brakes at turn one, but that really relies on the car in front having poor drive traction out of the slow corner.”

“Then there is also an opportunity into turn seven, into the first of the really tight hairpins, but that is really high risk as the car you are passing is often unsighted and can’t see you coming. You often see cars coming together there as a result of failed passing opportunities.”

James Courtney, #22 Holden Commodore VF:
“Winton is one of the remaining old school circuits, it’s got quite a bit of heritage and it’s been around for long time. It’s a good rural race; a lot of the racing we do now is street circuits and in towns, this is very much outside town and it’s good for the fans out there as they really enjoy it.”

“I don’t mind the track, it’s a good little circuit and could probably do with being resurfaced but in terms of layout it’s quite a fun little track to drive”.

“The most difficult part of the track is after the sweeper. You go through turn five then there is a change of direction through six and then trying to stop the car for the hairpin turn at seven is a tricky little sector.”

“To get the car to change direction a couple of times, then to settle it coming off the curb, then to stop and get rotated for the hairpin, is hard.”

“The new set of tyres this weekend for practice will give us a much better idea of where we are at running into qualifying. It will also give everyone a chance to run a qualifying simulation to see how their cars are performing and make some changes going into qualifying.”

“This year it’s been a bit hectic and I wouldn't think anyone has had a good idea where they are going into qualifying sessions.”