Craig Lowndes is looking forward to rekindling an old acquaintance when the V8 Supercars roar into life at this weekend's pre-season Super Test.
The 40-year-old is more than happy to be reverting to his former car, which brought him eight wins in 2013 and early 2014, having badly damaged the newer version in last year's season finale.
Lowndes did not win in that car and ended the season with painfully sore ribs from the crash at Sydney's Homebush street circuit.
"The team have decided to take a step back into the old, original car which had great success and I'm not too disappointed about that," said Lowndes, who is preparing to pursue a fourth championship title and first since 1999.
"I'm fit and healthy and looking forward to it.
"The ribs have come good and hopefully the weather gives us a good clean weekend to get some good development."
Lowndes said consistency and a strong start would be the key to improving on last year's fourth placing overall behind his Red Bull Racing Holden teammate Jamie Whincup, who took his sixth crown.
"Every driver will have bad round somewhere along the line," Lowndes said.
"We've got to be able to put a full season together.
"We've had some great results and some strong results but we've also let ourselves down during some of the events so we've got to make sure that we have a strong, consistent year and not just patches."
While Whincup is the clear favourite to extend his dominance, Lowndes believed the title race was more open than some might expect.
"There's no doubt Jamie'll be fast, but if you look at the finishing last year - Gizzy (Shane Van Gisberg) will be fast again, Ford Performance Racing with both Frosty (Mark Winterbottom) and Chaz Mostert will be strong and you've got Scotty Mclaughlin in the Volvo that was always a pain last year, he'll be a quick person."
"I reckon you've probably got anywhere from eight to 10 up to maybe a dozen drivers with good car-team combinations that can score wins at any time and it really just comes down to consistency and having a good solid year."
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