FPR team manager: We're here to win, not make friends
Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom are bitter rivals.
Their tight battle for victory at last year's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 at Mt Panorama, separated by tenths ofsecondsin the dying stages, was the culmination of decades of competition between the pair that began as youngsters in their karting days.
The fact that one represents the red lion and the other the blue oval fuels the existing fire as their Red Bull and FPR teams seem certain to be locked in battle as the contest for the Championship rages on this season.
It's not just the drivers fighting to the death - their teams are putting in 110 per cent, whether it's perfecting precision pit stops or dedicating long hours to finding that extra tenth of a second, pouring over mounds of data at the workshop.
"We're out there to win, not make friends," FPR team manager Chris O'Toole said bluntly.
While O'Toole is a long-standing member of the team - having clinched his first Bathurst victory with the team in 2013 after 10 consecutive disappointing years - perhaps his most prominent moment was at the SKYCITY Triple Crown last year.
Potential winner Whincup had been caught spinning his wheels during a pit stop, earning himself a drive through penalty, which put him out of contention.
As the Red Bull Commodore rejoined, the TV captured O'Toole, enthusiastically pulling the thumbs up.
Whincup later labeled the reaction "disgraceful" - but O'Toole dismissed him, emphasising the fierce competition between the teams and the raw emotion when gaining an advantage on-track.
"Yeah, yeah, that's me," he laughed when being asked about the Darwin 'thumbs up'.
"They catch you on the spot! I saw the camera and thought, 'bugger, I didn't know you were there'! But who cares. I wouldn't change it for the world, to be honest with you.
"There wasn't one team in pitlane that didn't go, 'yes!'. And I was the one who was caught on camera...
"If I was to say, 'aww, that's really sad he's got a drive through' who am I working for - am I working for Triple Eight or FPR?!"
O'Toole sees little point in pretending a major competitor falling out of contention is not a reason to get excited.
"To me, every other car out there is a competitor to us, and I just treat it in that fashion," he said.
"I get along with people and that sort of stuff but we're all competitors.
"We're just out there to win it and I don't care, really, who we upset on the way to doing it. That doesn't bother me at all...
"I'm there to do my job - and that's to be the manager of a winning team."
Winterbottom particularly is looking closer than ever before to his first title - the first blood of a Bathurst win has made his Pepsi Mac Crewhungrier, and seems to have helped give them confidence they can topple the form team of the past six years in Triple Eight.
O'Toole conceded that it was the team let 'Frosty' down last year.
"I go into every year thinking we are going to crack it for a Championship win...
"To be fair, (last year) Frosty and car 5 in particular did the best job all year of all the cars. But as a team, we let them down in pit stops.
"We had issues in pit stops - that was the real telltale on what happened last year.
"So we got our act together and sorted all those issues out and we got race wins, Bathurst and all that. So the car speed, pace, driver and all that - they did their job, we just let them down in other areas.
"So when we're not making those mistakes we should be up, or thereabouts to the front."
While it's way too early to call the Championship, leading sure does ease the nerves.
"It's easier to be in front than it is to get to the front, so there's an old saying in motorsport - when you're winning it's easy, when you're not, it's hard, bloody hard!"
Can FPR back up Frosty's win from last year at Hidden Valley, or Chaz Mostert's last race win in Perth?
Be there this weekend to find out - visit v8supercars.com.au's Ways to Follow for all the details on the SKYCITY Triple Crown.
