"This weekend we need to claw some more points back off Craig (Lowndes), because we need to lead in both unadjusted and adjusted points prior to the endurance races. That way we can be a bit smarter with what we do about finishing in the endurance races before dropping our worst round after Bathurst.
"Coming off our win in Queensland, we are looking forward to resuming the battle, especially as we have just had probably our best test day of the year at Winton. We just concentrated on two or three main items of the car, and it went very well."
Teammate Rick Kelly will be looking to emerge from Tander’s shadow this weekend, as he attempts to close the margin to both he and Lowndes in the standings this weekend.
“Oran Park is one of my favourite tracks. It’s challenging and full of character, with all the undulating sections and kerbs that you can fire off in different places,” he said.
“It is a really difficult track, because if you try that little bit too hard, you can easily be half a second off the pace just by rushing it. Last year, we started off the front row there, which is good considering we hadn’t had a good season. So, with this year’s confidence and speed behind us, we should again bring home a good result.”
Ford’s Craig Lowndes will be hoping to grab another victory this weekend, having previously been a winner during his days at the Holden Racing Team. Driving a Team Betta Electrical Falcon, Lowndes will be one of the favourites at Oran Park, however admits it will be a tough weekend of racing.
"We had great car pace at Oran Park last year and given this track is less sensitive to horsepower and more about handling I am really looking forward to this weekend's racing," said Lowndes.
"This is the last of the sprint race formats before the endurance rounds and the last time we will ever contest a reverse grid race.
