The Hidden Valley Raceway, home to this weekend's round of the Supercars Championship, features one of the longest straights in Australia, with a back section full of kinks, twists and bumps; requiring a car that can change direction very well and get good drive off the exit.

2017 actually marks the 20th time the series has competed in the Top End, with the first race taking place back in 1998. The track is adaptable to a variety of different driving styles which is why some drivers tend to show surprising performances here. Grip levels are also high here, ever since the track was resurfaced prior to the 2015 event, and this means that tyre degradation is low,.

In fact it can be that low that a nicely balanced car will run the same lap times throughout an entire race stint without any drop off whatsoever.

Drivers will have to watch out for the heat here though with the hot temperatures proving to be difficult in the past, for the engine, the tyres, and even the driver. Managing temperatures is a critical part of the weekend and if it wasn't hot enough, marshals need to be wary of grass fires at Turn 1, caused when the cars spear off which in turn sparks off the Safety Car.

For Erebus driver David Reynolds, none of the above pose any problem as he loves everything about the Darwin event and the aim this weekend is to make sure he qualifies as high as possible so that strong points finishes in both races become a real possibility.

“I love the warmer weather, I love the track and I love that I've won here before, and been on pole a couple of times,” he said. “The style of cars I have driven in the past have really suited this track and I think we should go alright this weekend. It's always close at the front of the field, but if we get our balance right there is no reason why we can't potentially fight for a win.”

“Our main aim is to qualify better, it's the most important part of the weekend and been our biggest struggle this year. We have proved we have a good race car but if you qualify too far back, you can certainly get a good result, but can never really challenge for the top spot. We have some ideas to try and get on top of that this weekend, but you never really know how you'll go until you're all on the same track, on the same tyre.”