Mark Winterbottom believes Ford is back to its best, but he's intent on not getting carried away with his return to the top of the V8 Supercars championship.
The veteran capped off a stellar weekend in Winton for Prodrive Racing Australia with victory in Sunday's 200km feature race, adding to his win and podium finish in Saturday's two sprints.
The results pushed him ahead of Holden rival Craig Lowndes on the overall standings, with just 12 points now separating the pair after four rounds.
Winterbottom was leading the series by 107 points at this point last season, only to give it up with a run of poor results.
Asked whether he can hold onto it in 2015, given the clear improved qualifying performance of his new Falcon FG X, the 33-year-old was unsure.
"Who knows?" he said.
"I thought this round might be tough, but it's proven to be a good one for us.
"Everyone's working hard and we're trying.
"But we're not in December yet, so we won't get carried away.
"You can never write anyone off and we'll keep trying to move forward."
Teammate Chaz Mostert was on course to win Sunday's race before crashing out mid-way through unaided.
But Winterbottom said his three pole positions and win on Saturday more than made up for the error and had provided a massive boost for PRA.
"I've been there for quite a long time now and the place is probably at its best," he said.
"I'm looking forward to enjoying this, celebrating it at the workshop because the team really deserve it.
"We'll try to drag that out for five weeks and then either get brought back to earth in Darwin (in June) or have another good result."
Lowndes managed to salvage a third-place on Sunday behind Winterbottom and fellow Commodore driver Fabian Coulthard.
He said the result was "satisfying" after qualifying poorly and only finishing 12th and eighth in Saturday's two races.
Not so satisfied was his Red Bull Racing Australia teammate and reigning champion Jamie Whincup, who, despite improving from 22nd to 10th, slipped back down to fifth on the series standings.
He'd briefly held third position on Saturday with a ninth and sixth placing.
"We struggled all weekend, there's no doubt about that," said Lowndes.
"Winton here this weekend was probably one of our worst (rounds).
"But it was great to have a third after a tough weekend. We've got something to look at."
With the series lead changing hands four times already this season, Lowndes is predicting a tight championship right through to the last round.
"There's no breakaway at the moment and I think that will be the case all the way up to December," he said.
The paddock next heads to Darwin from June 19.
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