In fact, the Prodrive Racing talent is so keen to lay his hands on the Peter Brock Trophy for a second time that he says he is going to put all his ‘eggs in one basket’ in an attempt to make it happen.

“That’s the big race for us. If we can win it, it’d be fantastic. That’s the goal, we’re going out to win. We’re not holding back, we’re putting it all out to try and win it,” Winterbottom said.

“We’ll go out there, have a crack at it, put all our eggs in one basket and try and win the race. If you win Bathurst, it doesn’t really matter what happened during the year.”

For the second consecutive year, Winterbottom will share his Ford Falcon with Dean Canto, an experienced co-driver who will be making his 19th start in the Bathurst 1000.

Last year at Mount Panorama, Canto and Winterbottom were running in the top six as the race drew towards a conclusion.

However, on lap 132 the car’s brake rotor shattered at Forrest Elbow and it ended the pair’s race.

The pair placed ninth at Sandown last month, a result which left Winterbottom sitting sixth in the drivers’ championship – 663 behind leader Scott McLaughlin – and ready to push hard at Bathurst.

“We’ve got nothing to lose. We’re sixth in the points, we’ve had pretty good car speed the last couple of rounds, so the form leading in has been quite good, but we’ve got no pressure.”