Motorsport: Home advantage gives V8 edge

Shane van Gijsbergen. Photo / Supplied

There have been some ownership changes among the V8 Supercars, but that won't be of any concern to the drivers as they arrive at Winton Motor Raceway, in Victoria, for round five of the championship.

More than half the teams, 17 of the 28, can claim Winton as their home track and all the Melbourne-based teams use the rural layout for their testing, as well as Albury-based Brad Jones Racing.

The tight and twisty layout has a range of slow corners that make Winton the slowest circuit on the race calendar. There are 12 corners linked by short straights, so with so many slow corners having a car that doesn't chew up its rear tyres is crucial.

Some say having home advantage is a big edge in a winning strategy but, on any day, the best-laid plans can come unstuck. In recent years, race results have favoured teams from Queensland and, since 2003, Queensland-based teams have won nine of the last 15 races.

"In some ways being on your home track gives you some advantage, especially driving it," said Ford driver Shane van Gisbergen, of Stone Brothers Racing.

"You learn all the little things about the track and the best way to get speed from the car.

"We get the advantage when we go to Queensland later in the year. It's my fourth time there [Winton] I think so I should be able to get on it this time. Last year, we were fifth on the Saturday but made a mess of the strategy on Sunday."

This year's V8 series is one of the most competitive in recent memory - there have been 11 different race winners in 15 races since the end of 2010. Since Craig Lowndes' win at Symmons Plains last year, only Jamie Whincup (four) and James Courtney (two) have been repeat race winners in the V8 Supercars championship.

The other drivers to win races are Jason Bright, Paul Dumbrell, Lee Holdsworth, Rick Kelly, Garth Tander, Van Gisbergen, Jonathon Webb and Mark Winterbottom.

"It should be a good weekend, although Winton's not our strongest track traditionally," said Van Gisbergen. "Our car's a fair bit different this year and we're making some good calls strategy wise and our race pace is really good."

With so many different winners of late it's hard to make predictions about this weekend with confidence, but the man with the recent Winton pedigree is Lowndes. He won both races in 2009, when the soft-compound Dunlop tyres were introduced. He carried the good form into 2010, finishing second in both races behind defending champion James Courtney.

Lowndes is second in the championship after the last round in Perth, 142 points behind series leader Whincup. A further 67 points back is Garth Tander with Van Gisbergen just seven points behind him.

"We need to qualify better as it just gives you more options and a better chance of planning the race," said Van Gisbergen. "Qualifying outside the top 10, let alone the top 20, is just no good.

"I reckon I must have passed twice as many cars as anyone else so far this year. If we can fix the qualifying problem, it'll make things so much easier.

"It's great to still be in good shape in the championship but the front guys are still getting just a little bit away each race. Being just seven [points] behind Tander is good but there are others just behind us.

"There's still a long way to go in the championship."

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