Supercars star Chaz Mostert is out for his third Bathurst 1000 race win as he seeks to spoil Triple Eight rival Will Brown's championship campaign.
The grid on Wednesday returned to Mount Panorama for the sport's great endurance race as drivers vie for the title of "King of the Mountain''.
With reigning Bathurst 1000 winner Shane van Gisbergen overseas in the NASCAR competition and last year's champion Brodie Kostecki battling to be up front, the door is open for Mostert to secure a third victory.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United star first conquered the mountain in 2014 in what was arguably the greatest Bathurst 1000 of all time.
Mostert, with co-driver Paul Morris, started last and by lap 45 they had their Ford lodged in a tyre barrier.
But 10 safety cars, 13 pit-stops and a one-hour suspension of the race to repair the road damage helped push them up the field.
On the final lap of the eight-hour epic, they overtook seven-time champion Jamie Whincup, who ran out of fuel with a kilometre to go, for the victory.
Mostert then fought off van Gisbergen in 2021 for his second Bathurst 1000 victory.
Van Gisbergen's Triple Eight replacement Brown is the slight favourite to take out this year's endurance race after he and co-driver Scott Pye broke through for a maiden win at last month's Sandown 500.
Brown leads the championship standings by 189 points, but with a total of 300 points on offer this weekend, second-placed Mostert can eclipse his rival should he win again.
But Mostert insists he has both eyes on the top step of the podium, saying the championship is at the back of his mind this weekend.
He partners up with Lee Holdsworth for their fourth attempt at the race together. The pair finished seventh in the Sandown 500.
"When you come to Bathurst, everything's about just trying to win this one race, so I'm focused on that," Mostert said on Wednesday.
"Once we get out of here, we'll see where we lie from there.
"We always have this thing as drivers - if you can't win the series, you want to win the (Bathurst)1000.
"This is one of the hardest days, one of the hardest events I've ever experienced around the world.
"No doubt every team here has prepped their car more so than any other event. Every team's gone through everything.
"The drivers get themselves as ready as they can be for this one event. This one means everything."
Brown's Triple Eight teammate Broc Feeney, with Whincup as his co-driver, shapes up as another genuine contender.
Feeney returns to the mountain after his last attempt at the endurance race ended in tears, experiencing gearbox issues on lap 137 when he and Whincup were placed second.
Mostert will also have to fend off young talent Matt Payne and his co-driver and five-time Bathurst winner Garth Tander, as well as seven-time winner Craig Lowndes and debutant Cooper Murray.
The Bathurst 1000 kicks off on Thursday, with main drivers to start practice at 1.20pm (AEDT), before co-drivers hit the track 4.55pm.
Qualifying starts at 4.15pm on Friday, before the top-10 shootout at 5.05pm on Saturday.
The 161-lap, 1000km race kicks off at 11.30am on Sunday.
