The 2015 grid: Part two

This year, the mid-field holds some incredibly strong competitors. Looking at the background of racers like Marcos Ambrose, Shane van Gisbergen - who continues to be touted a Championship favourite - and Fabian Coulthard, who was as high as second in the chase last season, there's no doubt this is a group that will punch above its weight this time around.

Most teams within this group are bona fide race winners, and all will be pushing for more consistent podium appearances in 2015.

DJR Team Penske

The most intriguing team of the year may be housed in the mid-pack, but with the Penske pedigree and the talent of a former champion, many would be shocked if the single-car operation wasn't up to speed quickly.

After nine years in NASCAR, Marcos Ambrose was ready to return home and pick up where he left off in V8 Supercars.

"I've done a lot in my career - I've done well here, I've done well in the States," Ambrose said.

"I'm going to come back do my best with the tools I have and the talent I have at this point in my career and I'm going to do as well as I can."

While he knows it will take time for the recently fused DJR Team Penske to develop, Ambrose knows being competitive this first season is key.

"As we get through the course of the year we want to keep doing the best we can," Ambrose said.

"By year's end, we need to be right up there amongst it."

With Penske personnel including team manager Jeff Swartwout and technical director Nick Hughes behind the scenes - and the captain Roger Penske set for his first V8 Supercars appearance at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide - there are all the ingredients for success.

Team TEKNO Darrell Lea

It's not a new team, but the TEKNO outfit is posing as many questions as DJR Team Penske this season.

The main one - can a small team win the Championship?

Star driver Shane van Gisbergen has proven he can mix it with Jamie Whincup and the top contenders, finishing second in the points last year, and with a flamboyant style and expert wet weather driving, he could turn the tide this season.

Running a Triple Eight Commodore means the team would need to beat Red Bull in their own equipment - and while 25-year old van Gisbergen prefers to take it race by race than comment on the Championship, he does seem to hold a quiet confidence this season.

"I'm looking forward to this year. We do have a lot of upgrades, but we're just not going to do it all at once," van Gisbergen said.

"We'll make sure we know every part on the car and what it does, and try and gradually improve and keep pushing, not just expect everything to work and smoke everyone."

Brad Jones Racing

A tweak to the engineering structure at this three-car team is expected to yield better results for the Albury-based group this season.

With Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard both having achieved race wins in 2014, and Dale Wood making it on the podium, the focus is on bringing in the points and working more cohesively to make technical gains.

Bright's 2014 engineer Andrew Edwards heads up the engineering department, with series stalwart Phil Keed focusing on setup and Coulthard's data engineer from last season Paul Scalzo now running Bright's Commodore.

"It is a change, but I felt like it was an area we weren't doing the best job of," Bright said.

"A three-car team should be working together a little bit more, and we were seeing time and time again we were going off in our own little direction and not working as well as we could."

Freightliner joins Coulthard's car, and the #14 driver agreed the team needed to work as a whole, rather than three groups.

"We all need to do everything correctly on the same day," he said.

"I'm pretty happy... I think we do a good job, and we'll be trying to get in with the best of them and give them a run for their money."

Walkinshaw Racing

The biggest off-season shock was team boss Charlie Schwerkolt's switch to the Walkinshaw group for 2015.

With newly-signed pilot Lee Holdsworth, Schwerkolt went from the Prodrive Ford umbrella to the factory Holden family - and the two couldn't be happier with the way it has all come together.

"I signed with Charlie wanting to be with a factory team and nothing's changed on that front," Holdsworth said.

"I did think I'd be somewhere else, but as it's turned out with Walkinshaw, I couldn't ask for a better home."

The 32-year old knows the time to challenge for podiums and Championships is now, and he is hungry to add to his tally of three race wins, the most recent Erebus' historic first victory at Winton last year.

"I've got the best opportunity winning races than I've ever had," Holdsworth declared.

Supercheap Auto Racing

Tim Slade is desperate to earn his first V8 Supercars race win this season.

The Supercheap Auto driver has long been considered a talent in V8 Supercars, and while he has a string of podiums to his name - including three earned last season - he is still looking to stand on the top step.

The end of 2014 left Slade with promise of a good year ahead, on the podium at two of the last three events, and fighting with Jamie Whincup for the race lead at the final meeting in Sydney.

"It was a really nice way to finish off the year and it was exactly what I wanted to do," Slade said.

"Everyone wants to do it, but probably, me more than a lot of other people because we had such an average year throughout the middle.

"I really wanted to get some good results at Homebush to finish off the year strong and go into the break with some positivity and confidence."

Slade believes the knowledge garnered from those final performances will serve the team well this time around - so watch out in 2015 for the Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore.

"I think we learnt a lot in the last few races of the year that will help us a lot at the start of 2015," he said.

Stay tuned for the final installment tomorrow, as we look at the top teams on the 2015 V8 Supercars grid, as the Clipsal 500 looms.