Two famous surnames in Australian motorsport are set to decide the Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters title at the VAILO Adelaide 500.

Three-time TCM champion Steve Johnson (Ford Mustang Trans Am) will be after a fourth title. He has a 75-point advantage over reigning champ Ryan Hansford (Holden Torana A9X) who wants to go back-to-back with 200 on offer across the weekend.

The pair shared the front row at this venue 12 months ago. Johnson won the championship races as Hansford did enough to seal his first TCM title.

At round five this year, held at Mt Panorama recently, Johnson have rev restriction in place and ran conservatively. Hansford race competitively and as a result was able to eat into the Johnson’s points margin.

Third in the championship will also be decided. Marcus Zukanovic (Ford Falcon), Cameron Tilley (Valiant Pacer), Andrew Fisher (Holden Torana) and John Bowe covered by just 28 points.

Zukanovic won the Bathurst round, Tilley leap frogged Fisher, and Bowe will look to cap off his year-long farewell to the category as a fulltime driver in style.

In the 27-car field, the title heavyweights will also have to contend with local South Australian and 2023 Aussie Racing Car Series Champion Joel Heinrich. The local took part in the August round at The Bend and was a winner in the Whiteline Racing Chev Camaro. He will be joined by Geoff Fane in the team’s other Camaro.

The grid has been bolstered by several Invitational entries from Adelaide, plus the six cars from the Touring Car Masters New Zealand Series.

The TCM grid will be the first cars on track at this year’s VAILO Adelaide 500 with their practice session set for 8:00am on Thursday morning, to be followed by Qualifying later that morning.

That will be followed on Friday by the Trophy Race at 9:25am and the first championship race of the weekend at 4:15pm.

Race 2 (11:30am Saturday) and Race 3 (11:25am Sunday) then complete the weekend, with coverage across Friday, Saturday and Sunday on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo Sports.