Who will win V8 Supercars this year?

[motorsportnerd]

The first race of the new year is just two weeks away at the AGP and most teams have now revealed their driver line ups and liveries. So who's going to win?

My feeling is that Ambrose will be hard to beat again, but watch both Triple 8 and FPR. They've both got massive budgets, access to overseas technology (the Triple 8 Vauxhalls in the BTCC and the BAR's in F1) and excellent drivers. If Radicish is feeling comfortable in the Triple 8 environment, he could be a dark horse. Although I'd be happy to see Lowndes or Seton win races as the championship as well.
Also, guess we can't write of Skaife or Murphy.

And a question. Anyone know who will be in the second Dynamic seat. Rumour was Jan Magnussen. Has that been confirmed?

[fpv_gtho]

i believe its getting a bit too late for Team Dynamik to fill up their remaining seat, but the fields down a car compared to last year so it could happen

well the basic facts are: Ambrose doesnt have the pressure of trying to win Fords first championship for a while, HRT dont have an owndership scandal hanging oer their heads but Skaife has team ownership over his head, KMart will still have a VY to get around as well as some development left on the #51 car (theres still no decent data for Eastern creek, Winton, Barbagallo, Clipsal, Adelaide), 888 will be starting the year with the former Briggs Motorsport, FPR will have gotten over their initial year and be into the swing of things, Ingall will be situated firmer in SBR and be getting higher up the ranks

i could go on but theyre really just the most important ones. the first races wont really mean much as there will be drivers slightly out of form from the break and trying to get back into the swing of things so hopefully by around Rnd 3 we'll be seeing everyone back to 2003's form or better.

I'm hoping that Ambrose can get a back to back win but i think Ford's main focus this year should be their Bathurst assault

[Pliz]

Ford Will Win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :d

[Falcon500]

Its a tought idea in theory the ex TWR cars should be preforming better but they have a few downfalls such as team brock no longer exists and with that gone so is their budget im assuiming, Skaife hasownership wich is well proven to strike down drivers in modern day touring cars and kelly still has to work on his own VY since he only got it a few races from the end also tony lonhurst has offically left HRT to purue a full time posi in castrol and so has jim richards (read on for that) and Kmart still need to work on their own cars. As for ford The stones possibly have more sponsoship (i havent heard much on that front but a championship win will more then likly draw attention) and ingall is now dialed into his car. FPR have a bigger budget and less cars to work with coupled with what FPV dubbed Totalperformance meaning they are going to work damn hard in every field to make the most of everything (cars, raceing, marketing, new model ect ect) 888 look strong, Perkins's team would be an interesting one to watch as they have twice the data of any team out there! wether itll be good in practice is another thing (they also have 3 cars they can use a guinia pigs leaving their most senior driver to reap the benafits) And also coupled with the fact that Jim Richards has offically left HRT and now will race withhis son in the enduros coupled with the fact that castrol have 1) steven richards (a well proven driver even if idont like him) 2) That Ex konica champion (his name slips me Dumbrell isnt it?) who is now on his second season 3) Anthony Tratt a very capeable driver 4) and one of the true vetrans of the sport tonylonghurst who has a swag of vitories in various motorsportsand multible bathurst wins coupled with decades in the sport!...but will Budget, polatics, team orders,larry himself and pit lane allow this to work?
Garry rodgers in theory should have more budget this year in theory as he has gotten rid of his 427project and has a more expericanced 2nd driver this year (poor jamie) coupled with that bean pole Giant Garth tander(also very underated but hes been acting up in the past few years) and also would have some interesting telemtry from his abondoned project as well not to mention a new roll cage deign hes perfecting (the Garry Bar)
And also numerousother teams have sprouted up from the ashes of well established teams and also have someof the most underrated drivers in the feild will the impress this year?

[fpv_gtho]

Im hoping the likes of DJR and BJR can lift their game this year as theyve got top drivers, they just need their equipment working for them. Ambrose issued the challenge to the Ford teams to try and match his performance this year and hopefully they'll succeed

[Falcon500]

Well im thinking that HRT will be getting more serious but with recen losses...it reamians to be seen. Ill expect Kmart to be quite strong and i already made it clear about the very possibilty that castrol are either going to trouce or fold (well im drama tising a bit but they really have a lot stacked both ways)
Im also wether amrborse can make a repaet performance..i frankly have no idea
at the moment my bets are on FPR for serious improvement,Supercheap for a better result,stone for at least doing dman well, the kelly boy of HRT doing well, Kmart for doing damn well.
Teams i doubt will improve are lansvale smash reapairs, Garry rodger motorsport (yes i know i said they have potential but luck doesnt favor them) PWR (for obvious reasons, BJR (they have been at a standstill recently and historicly it takes them a good long while to figure anything but bathurst out in a short period of time)

[fpv_gtho]

im expecting LMS to have some pretty big improvements, hopefully bargs has found the sweet spot of the BA and Frosty can get aboard his pretty soon. Ambrose has said he reckons he'll do better this year because the amount of pressure that has been lifted of his shoulders is enormous, he was probably ready to explode after his last performance at pukekohe, or at least race 2 performance (race 3 im sure he was feeling better after ingall's display of true teamwork)

im seriously hoping DJR will regain form. you could have a look at how many ford fans returned to the stadiums last year just from ambrose, well i reckon as much more will come back if DJR can get up on the podium

[Falcon500]

Well asi said it all remains to be seen the mebourne GPis on in a week or 2 and the clipsal 500 is 2 weeks after that i think.

[motorsportnerd]

I'd forgotten about the Perkins four car team. Steve Richards would have to be a serious contender. And I've always been a major fan of Jim Richards, so I'll have to put aside my normal dislike of Perkins at Bathurst. Hopfully Jim will make it victory number 8 at Bathurst this year. He may still beat Brock's record (of 9, can't count the 24 hour race as a "Bathurst" victory, just as a long distance victory at Bahurst).
I can't really see Garry Rodgers team, PWR, Team Dynamic, Tasman Motorsport or Team Kiwi being contenders for the championship. We may see occasional flashes of brillance from some of their drivers though. I think Jason Bright may have made a mistake remaining loyal to PWR.
Really, its Ford that has depth in the ranks now. Other than HRT, K-Mart and Perkins, I don't see the same depth of sponsorship, engineering talent, driving talent or good management in the Holden teams. Ford on the other hand has SBR, FPR, Triple 8, DJR and BJR, all of which have good levels of sponsorship, engineering talent, and mostly excellent drivers. And even the next rung of Ford teams look pretty good - SuperCheap, WPS Motorsport, LMS. I pity the Holden teams, in some ways. Still, you only need one team and one driver to dominate, and HRT have done that plenty of times before. Ford really doesn't have any excuses it they don't win this year when you consider the depth of talent in their ranks.
Also, a point on Jim Richards. Is there anyone else out there who, like me, believes the he is the best all-round racing driver we've ever seen in Australia or NZ? I consider him to be better than the likes of Aust/NZ world champions Alan Jones and Denis Hulme and touring car greats like Brock, Johnson or Moffat when I statement. Even in his late 50s he is still amongst the top 10 drivers in Australia, in my opinion. He'd still cut it if he drove full time in V8 Supercars (if you don't believe me look at his performances in the Bathurst, Sandown and QLD endurance races the last few years). However I know he does his motorsport for the enjoyment it gives him, and I belive he gave racing V8s away full time in the mid 90s because he didn't enjoy it as much as he used to.

[SHAKER]

I was just wondering with ambrose doing so well with the stone brothers, whether fpr would like to snap him up for there team, maybe fpv and stone bros could team up under the same umbrella and have a 4 car team sharing all there data,(not to mention there drivers, ambrose ingall lowndes and seton all as team mates)!It would be similair to the kmart/hrt/brock team scenerio, makes sense to me! But of course it will never happen.

[fpv_gtho]

SBR would sooner rejoin DJR than move down to melbourne and merge with FPR i reckon. Not only are DJR like just down the road but theyre more experienced and not full of themselves

[fpv_gtho]

well ive just read this article and im feeling fairly sympathetic for Ingall at the moment. we've all heard a gutfull in regards to his stint with skaife at eastern creek, but apparently all the crap some idiot holden fans out there are giving him and his family has sent his wife to the hospital from stress.......

he's commented that he won't acknowledge skaife this year and if skaife has anything to say that he wants him to say it to him face to face and not use the media as an interface. Ingall's really focused on winning this year to really shove it to HRT and Skaife so i think skaife better watch out next time hes trying to pass ingall as he might just bight back......again......

[Falcon500]

As i said i seem to find more brainless holden fans then ford fans....i am not meaning to gloat or anything but this sort of proves my theory (although it would not suprise me in the slightest to hear of m skaife being harassed needlesly too)
I doubt he will but next time skaife probly wont try and squeaze him forroom and attempt to forcehim off the road....i have read numerous people who think skaife started it all (in a real bout of finger pointing) and as myold man said if ingall just drove by he would of only gotten a slap across the wrist and possibly third in the championship because i think skaife was planning on running into the stones garage anyways to have a winge.
Garry Rodgers has layed down a hypathetical gauntelt saying he wants several round wins this year (of course not being happy to say 1 or 2 would be nice but saying I WANT several wins...whatch out camm hell say one thing and mean another if you dont preform)
I am quite glad to hear that team Dynamik have toned down their attitudes saying they want a better year then last year as opposed to them saying we want to win the championship in our 1st year!
Ambrose has also said in an interview that skaife should be looked out for and greg murphy and he also named several other holden teams that could and more then likly will be threats next year murphy also done the same (it was the sameinterview had both murph and ambrose) and he named ambroseas the biggest threat still and made mentions of moslty fordteams hes worred about as ambrose basicly said all the holden teams...he picked tirple 888 singling out paul radasich in particular hepicked out FPR saying glenn and lowndes have seriously improved in the space of a year and bhaveing one less car havemore focus and not to mention more money then last year and they both also agreed that most teams are getting better all the time and how it would most certainly be an interesting one this year.

[fpv_gtho]

well Kmart racing have gotten off to a good start, same with HRT, but its no real means for comparison since ints the AGP support event. the teams have the option of trying to prove their competiveness and risk it all over nothing, or just cruise into it and give the fans something to look at. seton and lowndes though, theres going to be alot better performances from them and im expecting the 2 of them will regularly be in the top 10 with lowndes taking another round win at least this year. they will probably be the best pairing for bathurst as theyve got skill and experience between the 2 of them and now i guess they have setup, and i believe we wont see ambrose and ingall together, same with T.Kelly and skaife since longhurst and S. Richards are taken for they will probably want to share the talent, but R. Kelly and Murphy will probably stick together still......

[Falcon500]

Well last year paul morris reallydid try to impress and as a by product wrote off the first raceing VY commadore in this country (he builtit in houseand gotit done before everyone else) lowndes tryed getting into it and ended off bending a stearing arm and lounged away in 7th deciding not to push his luck any further rathering getting data rather then risking more damge. Of course proof of competativeness is not totally true either if you rated amrbroses chance by his GP performance last year he was nearlyat the back of the field (he had an electrical fault)
Dont forgetlowndes and seton also had the most econmical car on the field last year hopefully they can extract more power while some how keeping the ecconmy. Kmart will be the ones to whatch at sandown and bathurst although i dont think theycan duplicate it again...you just never can be too sure. Well HRT lost their vetrans what a kickc to the guts that would of been they might have to find other people to fill their seats or at least get their holden young lions in the second car (GASP)