Yet no one was able to match the sheer speed of Garth Tander in the #16 Toll HSV Commodore. The 2000 Bathurst winner claimed all three races across the weekend – leading to his second outright victory of the championship.

Try as they might, Whincup and Lowndes were unable to match Tander's speed.

Oran Park proved to be the joker in the 2007 championship pack. A rain-soaked curtain raiser to the endurance races saw many of the top names in the championship falter in the wet, and allow young gun Lee Holdsworth to drive a consistent weekend to earn his first race and round victories.

It was the first win for the Valvoline Cummins Race Team since Cameron McConville's Winton victory in 2004, and Holdsworth's first major since joining the series fulltime in 2006.

The championship was heating up.

With the all-important endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst to come, and only eighty-seven points separating the top four drivers, it would prove advantageous to ensure points finishes in the longest races of the year.

Team Vodafone stepped up to the plate at Sandown, with Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup teaming up in the same car to claim victory in the Just Car Insurance 500.

Rick Kelly regained the championship lead with a well earned second place alongside Paul Radisich, whilst Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards backed up an outright podium at Oran Park with a third place alongside Owen Kelly.

Keen to defend their 2006 Bathurst victory, Lowndes and Whincup faced many challenges in the 'Great Race' – the largest being a nail-biting save by the latter, after slipping off the tarmac at the pit lane entry and nearly bogging the #888 Falcon in the sand.

Despite this, the Blue Oval's darling duo held on for an emphatic second major at Mount Panorama, in what was the first all-Ford podium of the year, with James Courtney and David Besnard finishing second for Stone Brothers Racing, and Steve Johnson and Will Davison claiming third for Jim Beam Racing.

Importantly, a non points finish from Rick Kelly and Garth Tander saw Ford claim the lead of the championship for the first time in 2007.

With just four rounds remaining, series organisers would have been secretly cheering at the tight tussle at the top of the table.