Preview: Betta Electrical 500 Melbourne.

By Matthew Agius

The eighth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series kicks off this Friday with the first endurance race of 2006 at Sandown Raceway, for the Betta Electrical 500 Melbourne.

As the first long-distance race of the season, Sandown traditionally carries the tag of being the curtain-raiser for the Bathurst 1000, a month later. However the event is so much more than an understudy to the 'great race'. Even though Bathurst is the most prestigious race of the season, Sandown holds its own as a tough and challenging event. This is boosted by the fact that the event has a history of being weather-marred. In all previous years, the Sandown 500 has had varying degrees of rain, from the odd sprinkle last year, to the heavy rain and spray which ended the 2003 event. In years gone by, Sandown Raceway has experienced format adjustments. Despite being a traditional 500-kilometre race, 1999-2002 saw Queensland Raceway take the title of hosting the pre-Bathurst enduro, consigning Sandown to a sprint format.

Historically, the Sandown 500 has been an important event in the championship. Two driver races are dangerous for title contenders - events are often won or lost on a co-driver's efforts (or lack thereof) and can be challenging most of the time. Various strategies have been employed by teams in their pairings for 2006.

In the instances of Team Betta Electrical and Ford Performance Racing, the regular drivers have been put in the team's lead car, whist ring-ins have been employed to steer the group's second machine - a traditional strategy that rewards both lead drivers if a good result is collected, and gives the recruits the opportunity to outperform the regulars. Successful uses of this type of pairing include the previous three Bathurst winners - Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly (2003-4) and Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly (2005), whilst the latter partnership also won the 2003 Sandown 500 together.

A different approach to enduros is pairing the team's regular drivers with experienced co-drivers, giving an even spread of potential to claim a result. This year, WPS Racing has employed this tactic, with former fulltime drivers David Besnard and Craig Baird joining Max Wilson and Jason Bargwanna at the Labrador team. Stone Brothers Racing has also done this with champion Russell Ingall being joined again by 2005 co-driver Luke Youlden, whilst James Courtney will be partnered with double-champion and Australian motor racing legend Glenn Seton.

Two teams have made the somewhat controversial decision to switch lead drivers for Sandown, allowing two championship contenders to remain in competitive cars with experienced drivers. The Holden Racing Team and Toll HSV Dealer Team have switched Todd Kelly and Garth Tander - allowing the latter squads two championship frontrunners to continue on in competitive cars. Despite an emergency meeting of the V8 Supercar board in the leadup to this weekend's event, no changes will be made to the rulebooks vetoing these partnerships from continuing at Sandown.

With just one extended race on this weekend, finishing in a good position is king. Drivers in high championship positions need to be wary of entries out of the title equation, whilst other entries with two non-regular drivers will be keen to show up the team leaders.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering-backed Team Betta Electrical will certainly be keen to stay out of trouble and possibly take another win. The Betta Electrical lead car won last year's Sandown 500 with Craig Lowndes and Yvan Muller. Now paired with Clipsal 500 winner and hotshot revelation Jamie Whincup, Lowndes is keen to extend his championship lead with a win.

"The team has dedicated a huge amount of time into ensuring the car is performing well for Sandown, and it simply is the best V8 Supercar I've driven," said Lowndes.

"This week's test at Queensland Raceway had an endurance race focus, with the team practicing pit stops and myself and Jamie making sure we had the driver change procedure perfected as every second in pitlane is important.

"I could not have asked for a better co-driver in Jamie, as well as being a quick and level-headed driver he also runs a very similar setup aboard his regular car which means we can both focus on racing rather than adapting to each others changes.

"Melbourne's changeable weather always seems to play a part in the Betta Electrical 500 and I'm confident we'll be able to set a cracking pace whether it is dry or wet. We're entering the business end of the season now, and strong endurance race results are essential to maintain the team's push for its first championship."

"Aside from developing a few new parts, this week's test was purely endurance-focused with myself and Craig practicing numerous driver changes and the team working on setting quick pit-stop times," said Whincup.

"There were a number of positives to come from the test, and one of the biggest was that I feel just as comfortable and capable in Craig's car as I have in my own all season.

"We know the team has what it takes to win at Sandown but every round presents a new challenge and new circumstances, we're very well prepared and I'm very focused on setting fast, consistent laps for the entire race distance."

The Toll HSV Dealer Team's lead car now has extra racing significance, with the names Kelly and Kelly featuring on the side windows of the #15 Commodore. Both Kelly brothers are keen for a solid result, and each are equally committed to the defence of the junior's title interests.

"Here at Sandown, the single most important thing is to finish. To this point in the season, if you have had a bad race you have another one or two to recover, but here there is only one chance," said Rick Kelly.

"The first choice is to win the race, but if that's not going to happen, we need to avoid mistakes and gather up a bag of points towards the championship. Driving with Todd will be good.
"It is a little bit different for a lot of reasons. You tend to get into a comfort zone," said Todd Kelly.

"To bolt on a black tee-shirt and to get into a different car and to walk into different truck and garage and to pull up at a different boom is all a little bit different. All this came up pretty quick - this is not something we planned at the start of the year. But we are all on top of it now and starting to feel more and more at home each day and can't wait to jump into a car and get stuck into it with Rick."

The lead Holden Racing Team Commodore, the second part of the HRT/Toll equation, is the favourite this weekend. However both drivers Mark Skaife and Garth Tander are keen to take a solid result from the weekend.

"Commodore #2 will be a strong contender on the weekend as it has been all year," said Skaife.

"Garth and I did plenty of laps at last week's Winton test and we've got seating and comfort organised to suit both of us. The car was spot on and this should translate to Sandown."

"Mark and I have been in the game for a good while now and we know what is expected," Tander added.

"Neither of us is worried about number one status as we will fulfill certain roles in the make up of the team with whatever changeable weather is thrown into the mix as the weekend progresses. I enjoy Sandown and love racing at a place we don't visit very often. There's always plenty going on with the likelihood of interesting results."

The Betta Electrical 500 Melbourne will get underway on Friday afternoon with practice, before qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.