Defending V8 Supercar Series champion and current leader Garth Tander is confident his Holden will perform well enough in the big "make or break" enduro races over the next few weeks as he prepares to repel the significant threat of Ford star Mark Winterbottom.
The 15-round series resumes next week at Phillip Island after a six-week break.
Tander (1,844 points) holds a slender advantage over Winterbottom (1,832) and another Ford driver Jamie Whincup (1,758) close behind.
The 500-kilometre race at Phillip Island will be followed by the iconic Bathurst 1000 in the second week of October, with four further rounds rounding off the series.
"Fortunately for us the last six races of the championship have traditionally suited our cars and our team, so we feel that we've got a pretty strong package to finish the year with," Tander told AAP today.
West Australian Tander said the Holden Racing Team had been working hard over the six-week break to try to squeeze more out of their cars.
"I think for us there is no doubt that the Ford guys have got a small advantage at the moment, so we need to continue to work really hard and that's something that we've been doing," Tander said.
"Mark Winterbottom is very strong speed-wise and he just hasn't put it together for the last couple of races, so we see them as the biggest threat for this year's championship.
"Whincup is strong and obviously (Ford's Craig) Lowndes (seventh on 1365) is there and (Holden's) Rick Kelly (fourth 1,506) is there, so there's still plenty of players in the game."
Tander will team up with Mark Skaise for the two enduro races and hoped they would have better luck than their last Bathurst challenge in 2006, when clutch problems ended their race after around 100 metres.
He was looking at generating more consistent speed from his car.
"When the car has been good it's been incredible fast, but we've had a lot of ups and downs this year where the car hasn't been that flash," Tander said.
The 31-year-old driver stressed the importance of the two enduro events because they didn't allow competitors a second chance to accumulate points unlike the other series events.
"These two races can certainly make or break your year," Tander said.
"It's not like you've got races two and three on Sunday afternoon at Bathurst so you can catch up if you have a DNF."
