After claiming his first Supercars pole position at this event in 2016, Prodrive Racing's Cameron Waters believes that a good strategy will be key to claiming a race win.
Waters has however, placed further emphasis on tyre life at the high degradation track as the category returns to the new super soft tyre, the same one that caused so much drama at the previous round at Phillip Island.
"It's cool to go back to Perth, I got my first pole there last year so hopefully we can go back there and get another one,” he said. “So far this year the car's gotten a lot better and I'm driving a lot better so hopefully if we put everything together we can.”
“So far the year's gone really well. Every time we've gotten in the car we've got a bit better, I'm driving a bit better, really just building momentum. We're going back to the super softs for Perth so a different tyre but going to Perth it's the hardest joint on tyres. We don't have the loads but the degradation is going to be massive so going into the weekend it'll be something we're thinking about. If we can get a car that looks after its tyres I think we'll go quite well."
Team Principal Tim Edwards hopes the team can continue its run of pole position dominance at Barbagallo, with Mostert, Winterbottom and Waters holding the last five pole positions, having clean swept the poles in 2015 and 2016.
"I think another pole position is within reach but we can't get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “The team did a fantastic job to give each of our drivers a car that looked after its tyres at Phillip Island and that's exactly what we need for Barbagallo.”
“The tracks are vastly different, with the loads of Phillip Island absent in Perth but degradation becomes another issue. We have some of the best minds in the category here at PRA and Perth has been a strong track for us in the past but there's still a lot of hard work that needs to be done before practice on Friday."
