Since 2000, the man who has won at Oran Park has gone on to win the championship title. That is the most important statistic this weekend. If any of the drivers in the paddock wanted a superstition to come true it would be winning at Oran Park. Mark Skaife originally set up the streak in 2000, when he took victory for the Holden Racing Team. Two years later, and Skaife had extended his Oran Park streak to three, and would later claim his third successive V8 crown. Marcos Ambrose won his two crows in 2003 and 2004 netting comfortable wins in the Pirtek Ford in Sydney before teammate Russell Ingall claimed his first outright victory at the circuit in 2005, and went on to claim another first this time the championship. Back to the present, and three men hold a clear advantage over the rest of the field two Toll HSV Dealer Team Commodores, those of Garth Tander and Rick Kelly, and the lone Ford Falcon of Craig Lowndes.
All three are, like Ingall before them, gunning for their first championship victory at their respective brands (Lowndes has won three championships for Holden previously) and each are looking to deliver their teams glory. Should Kelly or Tander win the title, it will be the first championship victory for a non-Holden Racing Team driver since 1993, and for Lowndes he would continue Fords streak to four, and deliver Triple Eight Race Engineering its first win on Aussie soils.
Both Toll HSV Dealer Team drivers anticipate a strong showing this weekend, after competitive speed in Darwin and dominant pace at the last round at Queensland Raceway. Garth Tander currently heads the championship on non-adjusted scores and will be hard to beat judging on recent form.
"I love the track, but I have never actually won anything up there," said Tander.
"I really enjoy the layout because it is one of the true classic racing circuits left in Australia that hasn't been changed that much.
