After a third podium in as many rounds of the V8 Supercar Championship season in Bahrain last time out, Stone Brothers Racing will hope to secure victory as the series heads to Symmons Plains for the penultimate round of the year.

In recent events, James Courtney has taken second place at both Bathurst and Bahrain while Russell Ingall equalled that result on the Gold Coast during the Indy 300 event.

With the JELD-WEN Motorsport and Caltex Racing Falcon's undamaged in Bahrain, the team has been able to concentrate on fine tuning the cars for the 2.4km Symmons Plains circuit.

The Tasmanian track has the sharpest first gear turn and one of the heaviest braking corners of all the circuits on the V8 Supercar calendar, with Ingall aware of how vital qualifying will be to keep out of trouble in the pack.

“Qualifying is very important in Tasmania,” he said. “The lead into that first hairpin has claimed plenty of cars over the years. You really want to be at the pointy end on that first lap to give yourself a better chance of making it through.

“Symmons Plains is one of the more simple tracks that we go to. It's got one of the heaviest braking corners and the sharpest first gear turn followed by one of the longest straights. Predominately it is these three things that make or break a fast lap time.

“It's essential that you work around that.

Courtney, who moved ahead of Ingall into eighth in the standings in Bahrain is confident the JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon will have the speed at Symmons Plains and is not shy in stating his goal for the end of the year.

“We were actually pretty fast at Symmons Plains last year but our results didn't show our speed,” he said. “With SBR achieving podium finishes at each of the last three rounds, we could be on for a good result this weekend.

“The goal for the end of the year is to get onto that top step. We are not in the title hunt so race victories are what we are after.

“The JELD-WEN Falcon is really making progress at the moment; it's getting better and better each round and with some small tweaks here and there, there are more improvements to come.”