In his first season with Triple Eight Race Engineering, Shane Van Gisbergen took his maiden Virgin Australia Supercars Championship title in stunning fashion.

SVG also won the revered Jason Richards Memorial Trophy and the Pirtek Enduro Cup in the same year.

That was last year. This year, things are different… For now, anyway.

The 2017 Sandown 500, saw SVG finish in 16th place dropping from 258 to 414 points behind the leader Scott McLaughlin.

As a result, SVG’s chase for the championship intensified and has made SVG’s Bathurst campaign a lot more interesting.

“It’s a bit different for us as we’re a little bit out of the points, so we need a good result at Bathurst,” he said.

“We are but we aren’t still in it. It’s a case of never giving up until it’s over.

“We really need a good result to get back in the hunt,” he said.

Following the decision to revert to last year’s specification Dunlop tyre, SVG has a bit more confidence in his upcoming race.

“We go back to last year’s tyres which we were obviously successful on,” he said.

“And it’s reassuring because they’re a lot safer than this year’s so I think we’ll be up to speed pretty quick about going through the processes and getting the job done.”

It’s the biggest race of the year and anything can happen – we can’t wait to be right in the thick of it. Bring it on!