Davison not giving up on title

Holden's Will Davison is refusing to give up on his dream of a maiden V8 Supercar championship despite heading into the penultimate round in Perth well behind series leader Jamie Whincup.

Davison trails Whincup by 122 points on the championship standings but with four races – and 600 points - still up for grabs is an outside chance of making up lost ground.

Davison admits the task is a difficult one and he will need everything to go his way in the Bigpond 300 at Barbagallo Raceway this weekend before the final round in Sydney early next month.

"I'm not playing the points game, I'm putting myself in a position to race aggressively and win races – I'm not holding back," Davison said.

"One hundred and twenty-two points is difficult to make up, but it could just be one race and I could be in the lead – there's no point in me worrying about Jamie."

"On paper, Perth isn't a great track for him and we're also getting back onto the soft tyre which he's had troubles with. I'm not going there to count on him struggling, you can never underestimate Jamie, but I need to maximise any opportunity that comes our way."

The 27-year-old said he would go into this weekend's round in the same frame of mind as when he and team-mate Garth Tander strode to victory at Bathurst six weeks ago.

"I'm focusing on what I'm doing, I'll try and make sure our Toll HRT Commodore is competitive and race hard and, hopefully, I'll win as many races as I can until the end of the year and beat [Jamie]," he said.

"The better man wins on the day and that's what we'll be striving for, being the best on the day."

"I never hold back, but especially now as we've got nothing to lose. If I'm in a position to have a go at Jamie in an otherwise 50/50 situation where other times you might settle for second I certainly know that won't be the case."

"The potential is there for the championship to remain wide open and I'm hopeful we can take it down to Homebush. It's going to be interesting."

Tander sits 340 points behind Whincup and although he is still, mathematically at least, in with a chance he said he would focus on individual races.

"I'm keen to do well in the last two rounds for two different reasons; firstly in Perth because it's my home round, and then at Homebush because it's the first race there and everyone wants to win the first," Tander said.

"It's still mathematically possible (to win the championship), but realistically it's probably not going to happen so I'll just keep doing what I've been doing all along, take it on a race-by-race deal and try win some races."

Meanwhile, Paul Dumbrell is set for his 100th start in the V8s this weekend.

The 27-year-old, who is in his 10th year of competition, made his debut with John Faulkner racing at Symmons Plains Raceway in 1999 at the age of 16.

"It has been a privilege to have been able to make it this far," Dumbrell said.

"Motorsport is a very cut throat sport and it has been challenging at certain times to stay in the field and I have been fortunate, and thankful, to everyone I have been involved with to be able to have that longevity in the sport."

The Bigpond 300 begins on Friday with practice before qualifying and race 23 (100km) on Saturday. There will be a further qualifying session and race 24 (200km) on Sunday.