Jason Bright confident despite long odds

Bright is the last Falcon driver to win at Bathurst, his victory in 1998 the only success Ford fans have tasted in over a decade.

A breakthrough win with Mark Winterbottom in the CAT Ford Performance Racing Falcon at Sandown last month has only intensified the hopes of Ford fans and bosses that 2006 could be the year of the Blue Oval.

"Heading into the biggest race there's nothing better than being the team that won the last round.

"It'd just be so good to win it for Ford because it has been such a long time and pretty frustrating time for them."

Winterbottom too welcomes the pressure and hype surrounding the FPR drivers.

He is running third in the championship, a remarkable result considering it is his first season at the factory-backed team.

However, he realises winning the endurance double is a difficult task and a feat not achieved since 1996 when Greg Murphy and Craig Lowndes won both Sandown and Bathurst for Holden.

"It's been quite a while, winning Sandown never guarantees you'll win here but it does give you confidence and a big factor to have at Bathurst is confidence," said Winterbottom.

"We're running on a high at the moment which is good.

"It's good to go into this round as one of the favourites and to have a chance to win."

Bookmakers have listed Holden's Mark Skaife/Garth Tander ($3.50) as favourites, followed by Ford's Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup ($4.00), Holden's Rick Kelly/Todd Kelly ($5.50) and Bright/Winterbottom ($6.00).

Winterbottom says the FPR Falcon is the most reliable of those top four contenders.

"Our reliability all year has been pretty much 100 per cent," he said.

"The quicker cars like (Lowndes and Skaife) have had a few little problems so if you look at the favourites this year there's four of us and we are probably the most reliable of the lot.

"That's good to have that on your side going into this race because it is a long race."

AAP