By Matthew Agius
The 2007 Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series crosses the Nullarbor Desert for the second round of the title north of Perth, where the Bigpond 400 will take place at Barbagallo Raceway.
Don’t let the sponsorship name fool you however, but the Bigpond 400 has a much better ring to it in contrast to “Bigpond 360”, which would be a better reflection of the amount of racing this weekend. With three races covering 120 kilometres, this is the first sprint round for the year, and after an interesting few weeks since the Clipsal 500 Adelaide, punters will be keen to see how competitive the teams are at the first permanent circuit round of 2007.
V8 Supercar Championship News
The Holden Racing Team has been cleared to contest the remainder of the 2007 championship after the Touringcar Entrants Group of Australia gave ‘Team Red’ the thumbs up after an enquiry into team ownership.
Although despite the clearance, it seems as though the HRT will be subject to more frequent audits to ensure they abide by the rules of the sport. The fact that a reputedly hefty monetary fine was handed to the team, suggests that there was some significant rule breaking, but like many commentators of Australian motorsport suggested, it would be commercial suicide to throw out the most successful and popular team in the paddock.
Fujitsu series
The Fujitsu Series does not hold a round of its championship this weekend.
The Track
On paper, Barbagallo Raceway is not a difficult track to race on. However the sand surrounding the track is a major nuisance for drivers and cars. Notorious for chewing rubber, Barbagallo is a fast and flowing track, comprising of a series of easy right-handers and esses, with two main straights of note. It also features one of the hardest braking areas in the championship, with speeds of 240 kilometres per hour being reached going down the hill of the main straight, before a full pedal application onto the pit straight.
The Winner
After the Clipsal 500 Adelaide, it would be hard to go past one of the Walkinshaw Performance cars. Todd and Rick Kelly were both leg winners at the season opener, and although Garth Tander and Mark Skaife had disappointing rounds by their standards, it would definitely be hard to go past them. On the Ford side, Stone Brothers Racing showed promise in Adelaide and it will be interesting to see where they perform at this weekend. Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup could also challenge for the podium, although they seemed to have fallen behind in this year’s pace-race.
![Steven Richards - Castrol FPR Ford Falcon [pic credit: FPR media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/294191.jpg)
