Phillip Island winner James Philip, in a Ford Falcon GT, and Steve Cramp, in a Holden HSV GTS, are 2006 front-runners returning with refurbished cars and high hopes.
Paul Ryan, Richard Buttrose and John Pagonas will lift the number of Lotus Exige challengers to six.
The weekend will officially start a seven-round 2007 Performance Car championship, which will include appearances at the Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast Indy events.
Last month’s scheduled championship opener at Wakefield Park became a non-points event after a last-minute delay in finalising the category sporting regulations, but despite leaving empty-handed, winner Gary Young (Lancer) and his fellow contenders gained valuable experience of the new Pirelli control tyres.
Without this experience, James Philip and Steve Cramp will have to make the biggest adjustments, having run Dunlop and Michelin tyres respectively last season. Their heavy V8s may find it difficult to stay with the more nimble Mitsubishis, Subaru, BMW, Lotuses and Nissan on the tight and twisty Winton layout.
“I’m not sure how we’ll go at Winton. With the revised regulations this year the GT has gained weight and lost power, plus we’ll have to work out how to get the best out of the Pirelli control tyres – but we never go racing with anything less than a plan to win, so we’ll be giving it everything, ” Philip said.
Wilson brothers Cam and Benn will run the Subaru for fellow Queenslander Brian Smallwood, who they introduced to racing through their operation in the Queensland Holden Gemini Series.
The team has won three Gemini championships and run up to 10 cars at a time.
Cramp’s HSV is ready and loaded and he’s high on confidence, despite still needing to confirm fresh sponsorship for Winton.
“Our long-time Adelaide sponsor CVW Engineering did not continue this season and we are in negotiation with a couple of other parties right now. Fortunately, Performance Car’s move to the V8 Supercar program and Channel Seven coverage means we can offer a much improved package, so I am hopeful, ” Cramp said.
“Meanwhile we’ve rebuilt the car from the ground up in the off-season and it is literally loaded and ready to transport to Winton. ”
Alongside the teams joining the series at Winton, Wakefield Park runners expected to start round one include Gary Young, Mark King and Graham Alexander (Lancers), Peter Floyd, Barrie Nesbitt, Tony Alford, Jim Pollicina, Martin Miller and Anthony Loscialpo (Holden HSVs), Peter Boylan (BMW M3), Peter Leemhuis (Nissan 200SX) and Mark O’Connor, Tim Poulton and Andre Morris (Lotus Exiges).
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