Volvo Polestar Racing team owner Garry Rogers admits that the recent unreliability of the squad’s engine package remains a concern ahead of the Pirtek Enduro Cup.

After enduring minimal issues last year, the team’s second season running the Polestar developed and built Volvo V8s has been marred by failures.

The bulk of the problems, which first surfaced at the season opening Clipsal 500, were traced back to oil bearing issues that GRM and Polestar hope have been resolved.

The reliability of the package will however be put to the test over the next two months, where the four longest races of the V8 Supercars season are run.

A typically frank Rogers says that the early season issues have stretched the team’s supplies of components, which must be carefully managed across Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast.

The Volvo engine program is controlled from Polestar’s headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, with only maintenance tasks being carried out at Rogers’ Melbourne workshop.

“We’re definitely mechanically not strong,” Rogers told Speedcafe.com.

“Everyone knows that we’ve had issues, particularly with the engine. Are we on top of them? I’m not sure.

“It’s a concern going into Sandown, but it’s a concern going into any meeting.

“We’ve never been overly burdened with an excess of engines, we’ve always worked on the borderline and we need more supplies to be comfortable that we’ve got enough.

“When we didn’t have problems we could manage it, but when it started to go wrong (this year) the management system became even more important in terms of how we manage our life-ing structures.

“Unfortunately you can’t just get more stuff for these things overnight. Things like cranks need to be made and that takes time.

“It’s not like a Ford or a Chev where there’s 40,000 of those engines running around in NASCAR.”

Although the engines are undoubtedly a question mark, Rogers is confident that the remainder of the package is strong enough to go the distance at Bathurst.

“The niggling stuff like power steering and alternators we’ve had (problems with) all the way through (since the start of 2014) but we’ve been able to manage it,” he said.

“The flatplane crank configuration of the engine with the harmonics and vibration levels has caused things that we didn’t expect.

“But now we’re life-ing all that stuff so that bit by bit we’re on top of it.”

The team will have its pre-Sandown test at Winton on Monday, where Scott McLaughlin’s co-driver Alex Premat will have his first run in the car since last year’s Castrol Gold Coast 600.

The McLaughlin/Premat entry finished fifth in last year’s Enduro Cup after a reliable run that was punctuated only by a crash for the Kiwi at Bathurst.

GRM has struggled to extract consistent speed from its package this year, but will head to Sandown buoyed by recent pole positions for McLaughlin at Townsville and Sydney Motorsport Park.

McLaughlin currently sits 11th in the championship, while team-mate David Wall, who is paired with Chris Pither for the enduros, is 23rd.