Skaifey's Sandown form guide

One of Australian motorsport's greatest has picked his favourites and explained the intricacies of the Sandown circuit heading into the first phase of the Pirtek Enduro Cup.

Mark Skaife spoke to v8supercars.com.au ahead of the Wilson Security Sandown 500 about which driver pairings, V8 Supercars, and teams will perform under pressure - and how carnage could play a huge part in what could be a Championship defining round.

Three-hundred points are on offer on Sunday, after a qualifying session and two qualifying races Saturday - one for co-drivers, then main drivers to determine starting positions - in a format that has seen chaos break out through the field in the past.

A six-time race winner at the circuit, six time '500' winner across Sandown, Phillip Island and Queensland Raceway, and tied on five Championships with Dick Johnson, IanGeoghegan and Jamie Whincup, Skaife gave his predictions ahead of the Wilson Security Sandown 500.

Click here to see the full list of driver combinations.

"Seven red-hot combinations"

"For me, there are seven red-hot combinations," Skaife told v8supercars.com.au.

"Some of those are quite obvious based on form and those combinations being relatively stable - Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell (last year's winners) would have to go into the event asfavourites based onthat... both Red Bull combinations are very strong."

Stepping away from last year's Champion team- which also boasts Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards in the #888 Commodore, a new chassis for this event -Skaife couldn't look further than his old homefor the next in line.

"I think James Courtney and Murphy, after a shocking run last year will bounce back well and their car performance has certainly improved.

"It's a local race meeting effectively for that team, so it's always a part of Sandown for HRT. The two guys that ... are looking after the Courtney-Murphy car, Alistair McVean and Robbie Starr -Rob Starr is a very experienced guy with that sort of race and I would've thought that would stand in good stead."

From the factory Holdens to the factory Fords, Skaife bills Frosty's Falcon to lead the blue oval, despite being over-shadowed by his younger teammate at recent rounds.

"Mark Winterbottom and Steve Owen will be strong. In terms of speed and tyre consistency, they'll be the lead Ford pairing.

"Chaz Mostert has shown good pace and Paul Morris will add a bit more experience to that, so that will assist them also.

"And given weather conditions always play a big factor in a race like Sandown, after van Gisbergen's performance in the rain I think he will prove to be hard to beat as a consequence of that.

"Garth Tander and Warren Luff will be strong, Garth will be relatively mistake-free.

"They're the main contenders."

Others on the outskirts

"There are a couple of others," Skaife said.

"Davey Reynolds has had a pretty ordinary year, expect him to go better.

"Scott McLaughlin has the speed, they'll be strong and if they can make sure Alex (Premat) is as comfortable in the car as possible, they're a pretty strong combination.

"Will Davison and Alex Davison are a pretty strong combination, so is Lee Holdsworth and Craig Baird.

"There's a couple of guys across all the brands that are going to be pretty strong in terms of outright speed."

While Skaife acknowledged there were possible 'fast men' across all five manufacturers, the biggest question mark was around Nissan, given the recent improvement, but much talked about deficiency in a straight line.

"It'll be interesting to see what happens with the Nissan there because they've been getting better and better - the last couple of race meetings have been excellent for them. Their form out at Queensland and Sydney Motorsport Park has been very encouraging.

"The combinations from their side, when you look at guys that are in the cars enough -Dean Fiore has been doing enough driving to be strong with Michael Caruso.

"There's a couple of those combinations that are in the dark horse section, but they will certainly be there or thereabouts."

Stay out of trouble at Sandown

"It's the sort of race you just have to make sure you don't make contact early, the race itself, the style of circuit it is it is very much different to how Phillip Island was as a 500km race," Skaife said of the 3.1km circuit.

"This is much more congested, much more drama attached to the first few laps - that goes for the restarts also - so across the weekend it's very, very easy to make nose to tail contact the fist half of the lap and then the back half of the lap.

"What normally happens with a race like this, one of the lead contenders will end up having a tyre rubbing on a guard, or wheel to wheel contact with another car or front air dam or whatever damage. So you end up sometimes with, just the congestion and difference in the layout of Sandown, you end up with damage that either slows you for the day or puts you out."

Last year we saw it happen to the Holden Racing Team, with both cars #2 and #22 pitting unexpectedly to deal with loose bodywork.

"Of those top seven or eight cars, there will be some effect, just based on how fierce the racing is in those early laps."

So where are the danger zones at Sandown Raceway?

"That congestion at the first corner -probably that first corner at Sandown is one of the wildest first corners in Australian racing.And when you lead up into the hairpin at turn four coming onto the straight, there's always nose to tail contact there.

"So, again, to limit the damage and make sure you're not affected by that will be ultra important."

Championship implications

"In terms of car performance, you've got to link that with what the Championship positions are right now," Skaife said.

"So, the performance of Red Bull -they're always the benchmark team in terms of thinking on your feet, making the least amount of mistakes, and ultimately getting the best performance based on their driver combinations.

"That form will serve them well."

After snatching the Championship lead two events ago, Whincup looks dangerous 135 points ahead.

"Mark Winterbottom and Steve Owen from FPR, they've got to press on, they've got to get on with it now because this is now 900 points across these three events and it's very important for him to get back into Championship contention," Skaife said of second-placed Frosty.

"Whincup can slide away easily if they don't do that. It's a pivotal time of the year with these big points haul races and one little mistake on Sunday, for instance, is very, very costly."

"Form and history" why Red Bull are the ones to beat

"Form and history will show that in recent times Red Bull Racing are definitely the benchmark team ... you'd have to say they are the team to beat when you consider all the variables of long distance races.

"But sometimes there's always quite an element of luck attached to some of the things that happened at Sandown. We've seen it hail at Sandown so badly that you battle to keep up with the Safety Car. So there are times at that race, and it's such a weird pocket in terms of its weather patterns, the silliest things can happen and it's such a complex sport you don't need to have too much go wrong for you to be outside of all of that.

"I think the other team that has performed well this year in terms of consistency has been Brad Jones' team. And again the whole essence of winning these sorts of races is just making the least amount of mistakes.

"So if you do that, you have to say Red Bull Racing for sure, then I think as a home race meeting I'd say HRT is the next best for that style of race strategy, then closely followed by FPR and probably TEKNO with van Gisbergen and Webb."

Do you agree with Skaifey's favourites for the weekend? The Wilson Security Sandown 500 runs from September 12-14.