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  History is on the line at Mount Panorama on Sunday.

History is on the line at Mount Panorama on Sunday.

If Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup can win the Bathurst 1000 again they will become the first crew in race history to win four straight runnings of The Great Race. They scored an unprecedented V8 Supercar hat-trick last year, repeating the feats of Peter Brock with co-drivers Jim Richards and Larry Perkins, and no-one is betting against them this year.

Even so, Garth Tander and Will Davison hit Bathurst fresh from victory in the Phillip Island 500 with the Holden Racing Team and no-one will be surprised if Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards finally translate the pace of recent years into victory for Ford Performance Racing. "We've had a full month off to prepare for Bathurst and now we are getting close to crunch time," says Whincup, who will lead TeamVodafone for the second year. "This is the most special race on the calendar. It stands alone as the one everyone wants to win and I'm confident we have what it takes to win.”

But Whincup is not getting cocky, particularly after the last-lap loss to HRT at Phillip Island. "I'm expecting a really intense battle with the factory teams once more. We are probably still a little wounded (from Phillip Island) given what happened to us on the last lap. We've left very little to chance in the lead-up and could not be better prepared."

Typically, and despite sharing equal favouritism, Garth Tander has a different take on this year's battle. "While the media is focused on Whincup and Lowndes, and a lot of other people are focused on beating just that one car, we're focused on what we need to do. If we do our job well, it will be good enough to win the race," Tander says.

For Winterbottom, Bathurst is starting to get personal after a pair of near misses. "It's such a big race and I want to win it pretty badly.
I love the track and when you enjoy a track you always go better there," Wintebottom says. "I definitely want to win it but people go their whole career without winning at the Mountain; if it was easy we wouldn't all want it as badly as we do." Apart from the battle at the front, there are plenty of other 'maybe' starters in this year's field.

James Courtney and Steven Johnson could be contenders in the same Triple Eight-built Falcon used by Whincup and Lowndes, Lee Holdsworth  and Michael Caruso are capable of causing an upset in a new-look Valvoline Commodore, and Todd and Rick Kelly could also feature if the race pace is not too hot for their Jack Daniels Commodore.

There are always dozens of stories at Bathurst and this year is no different, from Russell Ingall's late co-driver switch to Owen Kelly at Super Cheap Racing, the pairing of Brad and Andrew Jones in the WOW Commodore, and even the guest-star appearances of European aces Andy Priaulx, James Thompson and Ben 'The Stig' Collins.

There are a total of 13 rookies in the field, including Leanne Tander, as well as 11 former winners. The pair with the best form are Mark Skaife and Greg Murphy, with nine wins between then and the potential to add something more to their records. "We'll know how well we can go after the first practice session," says Murphy, who finished third last year. "Everything fell into place at Bathurst last year - the car felt good and it was fast. We're certainly hoping it will be the same again."