Three cars are prepped and packed away, the truck is on its way, and one week out from Round 2 of the Yokohama V8 Ute Series – protected by Armor All, Nulon Oil’s David Sieders is eager to stand atop the podium when the racing resumes at Hidden Valley Raceway (NT), 18-20th June.

Determined to get back into the winners’ circle, the Western Sydneysider hopes to better his last performance in Darwin, back in 2005, where he finished equal first for the round in the Lotus Cup, but knows it will be a tough challenge.

“I’ve only raced at Hidden Valley twice, and that was in the Lotus,” said Sieders, “the last time I was there I picked up pole position and some race wins, so I know I can be quick, but I definitely have a sense of unfinished business”.

“I’m really focussed on getting back on the podium at Darwin, but it will be an uphill battle against the Holdens, as it’s a bit of a dragway, so hopefully some parity adjustments will be applied before the round to even the out the cars a little.”

With the first two rounds taking place on familiar tracks for the 2006 Ford Performance Racing Test and Development Driver, Hidden Valley looks to be the first real demonstration of Sieders’ versatility this season.

“Preparation for the round is pretty limited, as we don’t have the luxury of data from previous years in the Utes, as we would in the Supercars,” said Sieders, “the next best thing for me will be the track walk, and to take in information from my stable-mates who have raced there in previous years”.

After completing his first three-race Ute round at Winton, Sieders, who currently leads the battle for the Rookie of the Year by 64 points from Rhys McNally, has relished the competition at the front, with very little separating the leaders.

“Qualifying at Winton showed just how close the front of the field is, with five drivers all in contention for pole,” said Sieders, “there are some really good drivers in the category and the utes are fairly similar so you definitely work hard for every position”.

Despite a solid performance at Winton, David Sieders slipped from the Series Lead and currently sits in third position overall on 198 points, four points behind stable-mate Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher (202 points) and only a handful of points from the new championship front-runner, Grant “Grunta” Johnson (203 points).

“At the moment my focus is on taking as many wins and poles as possible, and if I do that, whatever I achieve in the Championship will take care of itself.”

“Of course it would be great to still be sitting in first place, but if I can get back up the top and win the championship, I want it to be because I won more races than anyone else, not just because I was consistently near the front.”

Round Three of the Yokohama V8 Utes – protected by Armor All commences on Friday 18th June at 9:10am with Practice 1; Qualifying and Race One on Saturday; and, two races on Sunday - You can catch Race 1 and Race 2 live on Network 7, check guides for local times.