With less than 24 hours to place their tips for Round 5 of the V8 Supercars Championship players of the Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor have their sights set on current championship leader Mark Winterbottom.
The #5 Ford Pepsi Max Crew driver is highly predicted after his current run of form in which he has scored the most points for the weekend over the past two V8 Supercars rounds at Winton and Pukekohe.
Winterbottom is also leading the drivers' championship standings by 107 points ahead of Red Bull Racing Australia's Craig Lowndes.
Both Lowndes and team-mate Jamie Whincup are also highly placed among V8 Predictors given the strong run of success the Triple Eight outfit has enjoyed over the years at Barbagallo Raceway.
In fact, between FPR and Triple Eight the teams have won 13 of the last 14 V8 Supercar races held there since 2008 – FPR with six wins, Triple Eight seven.
The only team to break that streak was Brad Jones Racing with Jason Bright claiming a win in the second race in 2011.
Each V8 Supercar is back on the soft compound Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres for Barbagallo with eight sets of rubber at each drivers disposal, with one having to be handed back after practice under the 2014 regulations.
Tyre degradation is typically high at Barbagallo but there is effectively enough green rubber to perform pit stops in both the 100km races on Saturday on top of the 200km race on Sunday – however timing of these stops will play a major role in race strategy and success at the circuit.
The race weekend will return to the Super Sprint format, with two 100km races on the Saturday and one longer 200km race on the Sunday. Friday will see three 20 minute practice sessions.
There are also $100 BP Fuel vouchers up for grabs for each of the 14 rounds contested this year plus bonus prizes on top.
The 2013 Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor champion enjoyed the ride of a lifetime in Adelaide when Tony Q from Melbourne headed for a hotlap of the circuit with Mark Winterbottom as a part of his prize for winning last year.
Click here to sign up for the 2014 Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor.
Need a hand predicting this weekend's round? Check out what our three experts reckon for the action ahead.
The Experts
2014 Castrol EDGE V8 Predictor – Global Leaderboard
RANK | TEAM NAME | POINTS |
1 | Bloopy Enterprises | 312 |
2 | Team Nosk | 284 |
3 | SCATTERS | 280 |
4 | Murph | 268 |
5 | V8 Chick | 262 |
6 | boats n hoes | 261 |
7 | Hooksta Racing | 259 |
8 | Topgun | 255 |
9 | The Edge | 254 |
10 | Team Red Army | 252 |
11 | 3D RACING | 251 |
12 | GF Racing | 251 |
13 | 55 Team Daffid | 250 |
14 | A Rumor of Skin | 248 |
15 | SLM racing | 247 |
16 | AW_888 | 244 |
17 | Becvdh | 244 |
18 | witchesno1 | 242 |
19 | Go Holden | 242 |
20 | The Flying Bulls!!! | 242 |
2014 Expert Leaderboard
RANK |
TEAM NAME |
POINTS |
1 |
Speedcafe |
151 |
2 |
Greg Rust |
96 |
3 |
Andy Priaulx |
95 |
Weekend Results – ITM500
1 | WINTERBOTTOM, Mark | 268 |
2 | MCLAUGHLIN, Scott | 245 |
3 | VAN GISBERGEN, Shane | 228 |
4 | MOSTERT, Chaz | 205 |
5 | BRIGHT, Jason | 187 |
6 | COURTNEY, James | 172 |
7 | PERCAT, Nick | 170 |
8 | WHINCUP, Jamie | 169 |
9 | DAVISON, Will | 167 |
10 | CARUSO, Michael | 166 |
10 | COULTHARD, Fabian | 166 |
11 | TANDER, Garth | 162 |
12 | KELLY, Rick | 143 |
13 | REYNOLDS, David | 139 |
14 | PYE, Scott | 135 |
15 | MOFFAT, James | 133 |
15 | LOWNDES, Craig | 133 |
16 | HOLDSWORTH, Lee | 122 |
17 | INGALL, Russell | 105 |
18 | PERKINS, Jack | 93 |
19 | KELLY, Todd | 90 |
20 | WOOD, Dale | 80 |
21 | SLADE, Tim | 77 |
22 | DAHLGREN, Robert | 63 |
23 | WALL, David | 0 |
Additional points
POLE POSITION | MCLAUGHLIN, Scott and BRIGHT, Jason and COURTNEY, James |
FASTEST LAP | WINTERBOTTOM, Mark and MCLAUGHLIN, Scott and VAN GISBERGEN, Shane and BRIGHT, Jason |
RACE WINNER | WINTERBOTTOM, Mark and VAN GISBERGEN, Shane and BRIGHT, Jason |
Championship Points
Position | Driver | Points |
1 | Mark Winterbottom | 941 |
2 | Craig Lowndes | 834 |
3 | Fabian Coulthard | 824 |
4 | James Courtney | 781 |
5 | Shane Van Gisbergen | 777 |
6 | Jamie Whincup | 775 |
7 | Scott McLaughlin | 651 |
8 | Jason Bright | 592 |
9 | David Reynolds | 592 |
10 | Will Davison | 572 |
11 | Lee Holdsworth | 562 |
12 | Tim Slade | 550 |
13 | Michael Caruso | 540 |
14 | Garth Tander | 531 |
15 | Chaz Mostert | 527 |
16 | Rick Kelly | 512 |
17 | James Moffat | 506 |
18 | Russell Ingall | 482 |
19 | Scott Pye | 453 |
20 | Jack Perkins | 424 |
21 | Dale Wood | 395 |
22 | Nick Percat | 386 |
23 | David Wall | 370 |
24 | Todd Kelly | 346 |
25 | Robert Dahlgren | 237 |