Percat vying for top 10 in Championship
HHA Racing's Nick Percat is looking to further improve his Championship position this weekend and finish his first full V8 Supercars season inside the top 10.
Battles will be red hot today as Jamie Whincup looks to secure the title from Mark Winterbottom and Shane van Gisbergen - but tight points margins mean there will be challenges for top five finishes and top 10 across the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 and final event in Sydney.
While Percat showed strong signs at the season opening Clipsal 500, running up the front before an incident, he left that event last in the standings.
But since then the Heavy Haulage Australia driver has secured his first solo podium at Sydney Motorsport Park, and stood on the Bathurst podium - this time as the main driver, with Oliver Gavin alongside.
The 26-year-old currently sits on the fringes of the top 10 in the Championship - only 68 points adrift of current tenth placed Michael Caruso and his Nissan Altima - and is eager to continue his momentum to the penultimate round of the 2014 season.
"Considering where we were at the start of the year, it was a very late deal to get across the line and to get a fourth car on the grid at Walkinshaw Racing," he told v8supercars.com.au.
"To have a rocky start to the year and to now be in a position to finish the year in the top ten, I don't think many people can take that away from us and say that we haven't done a good job once we got all out ducks in a row.
"I think it would be a good appreciation not to me, but to my engineer and the guys on the car and how far they've come as well and helped to get us to where we are."
Percat's third place at Bathurst on debut as a main driver in the V8 Supercars championship was a standout performance, the HHA Commodore the first car home from the Walkinshaw empire.
The third place also showed the V8 Supercars paddock his talent, after long being associated with former champion Garth Tander and their 2011 Bathurst win.
"It was really satisfying because obviously Garth was the one finishing the races last time, and I was able to get the car to the podium at the end there," he said.
"Everyone had their stories from the day, but our car had lost all of the cooling so I was well overheating after a good 60 odd laps with no cool suit or anything.
"So, just to not make a mistake around a track like that and get the car to the podium and having to pass some really good drivers - like I battled with Frosty, Rick Kelly and Will Davison and to get in front of them at a place like that in the dying stages was really cool.
"It all worked out, but I think the whole crew really deserved it because they worked that hard and had a terrible weekend with car 2 and car 22 during the race, so it was good to get them a result."
Although Percat took to the Phillip Island Grand Prix track last year in a Car of the Future prototype car for a tyre test, he's never steered the new generation V8 Supercar under race conditions at the circuit.
However, the Holden driver has proved successful at the circuit in the past, taking victory in the Porsche Carrera Cup at Phillip Island as early as this year.
"I've always had a bit of a love for Phillip Island, so hopefully that translates into something," he said.
"It's one of those tracks where if you don't have the car perfect, it doesn't work because it's such a fast and flowing track.
"I've had good results there in the past but we've always managed to get on top of the car and make it work for us, so hopefully we can have another good weekend."
An obstacle Percat may face this weekend is racing in wet conditions, with rain possible today, but he's looking forward to the challenge.
"I've always really enjoyed the wet, I think Sydney Motorsport Park was my first real hit-out in the wet - going down into turn one at 250km/hr and you can't see is quite interesting!" he said.
"This time, if I can be somewhere around the ten in the wet, that would be pretty good because it's definitely a confidence thing.
"Like, if you can have a few good runs in the wet next time it rains, you've got the confidence to lean on the car a bit more and know that it's going to hold on. If it rains all day Friday, it will help me out for Saturday."
Percat finished eighth overall in yesterday's practice sessions at the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400.
