ACROSS the five years he's spent as a co-driver for Dick Johnson Racing Tony D'Alberto has enjoyed consistently strong results, but he feels his best chance to win the Bathurst 1000 will come this Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That is when he will share the seat of Anton De Pasquale in the Great Race.
While De Pasquale has only got three previous Bathurst starts to his credit compared to D'Alberto's 16, his season to date in the #11 Shell V-Power Racing Mustang has had plenty of highlights.
It includes five wins across the four consecutive rounds staged at Sydney Motorsport Park as a build up to the Bathurst 1000.
"We're in a really good spot coming into the race, Anton is in very good form winning a lot of races over the last month at Sydney Motorsport Park, so looking forward to it," D'Alberto said.
"To be honest I didn't really mind which car I was in, but Anton is in good form as I said, he's got a lot of hunger to try and win the race.
"I've been lucky enough to get on the podium here before with Fabian Coulthard a few years ago, I'd love to do that again at least, but the ultimate goal is to win the race, that's every child's dream as an up and coming race car driver and this year is probably my best shot at it and I'll make the most of it."
READ MORE:
Across the five previous years he's spent with DJR, D'Alberto has only finished outside the top 10 once at Mount Panorama.
He enjoys being part of the DJR set up and knows exactly what the team expects of him.
"Obviously they're an amazing group of people, they're very competitive, they want to win, so for me it's the perfect place and just very thankful for the opportunity by Ryan Storey and Dick Johnson to have me on board," he said.
"As a co-driver you're playing a supporting role to the main driver and the ultimate goal is to be as quick as you can be without risking the car too much. I've been able to achieve that the last last six years and fingers crossed we can do it again this year."
As was the case last year, in 2021 the Bathurst 1000 is the only endurance event requiring co-drivers on the Supercars calendar.
However, the 35-year-old feels better prepared now than what he was last year when helping Fabian Coulthard to fourth in the Great Race.
"You'd obviously like more seat time, you always want to be in a race, that's the best training you can do, but I did Super2 at Sydney Motorsport Park and we did a couple of test days in this car as well, so I feel more prepared than last year," he said.
"Last year we went into the race with no testing, nothing, I rolled into pit lane and it was the first time I had driven the car all year. We survived that one."
Come Sunday, with Red Bull's Shane van Gisbergen having already been crowned champion and no more races to follow, D'Alberto and De Pasquale will adopt an all out approach in pursuit of glory.
"There are so many variables going into this race, the weather being one, and now the championship is wrapped up Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander don't have that pressure on them now, they can just unleash and go as hard as they can," he said.
"But that's exactly our mentality and fingers crossed we are on the top step come Sunday."