HP🔴DC V8 Supercar Championship Series leader Adam Macrow is confident he can match it on any track with the man considered to be the best in this year's series - fellow Ford driver Dean Canto - starting at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway this weekend.

Macrow inherited the series lead from Canto at the last HPDC Series event at Wakefield Pℱark in Goulburn after a massive collision on the starting grid me💙ant his Ford rival was unable to compete in the last two races on the weekend card.

Before Canto ran head-on into a stalled Jay Verdnik in the reverse grid format he had easily won the first race of the weekend and was looking to build on his then Championship lead. But all that ended dramatically, pushing Canto down the Championship point🎐s table to his current eighth position.

That aside, Macrow says he can challenge Canto and his Dick Johnson backed Ford Falcon on his own merits. He hopes to prove it at Eastern Creek this weekend when the series moves there for round three, which like Wakefield Park, has three races with a full reverse gri🍌d race in the middle.

"I haven't done a lot of racing at 🧔Eastern Creek but I do enjoy the track because it really suits my style of driving," Howard Racing's Macrow saidဣ. "We are much better prepared over a race distance now and we showed at Wakefield Park we definitely have the speed.

"The difference in qualifying at Wakefield Park was only eight one hundred's of a second, we had a small problem in the first race ဣand Dean (Canto) was out in the second so I am lookinꦺg forward to racing him on an even playing field this weekend. As long as the car looks after its tyres we will be on the money."

Canto, who has secured a co-driving position with V8 Supercar Championship Series team Dick Johnson Racing at this year's Betta Electrical 500 at Sandown and Super Cheap Auto 1000 at Bathurst, will be looking to resu🍌rrect his championship aspirations on home soil.

"The championship is still gettable, no doubt about it," Canto said. "You can never give up. Adam ꦏ(Macrow) may suffer the same fate that I suffered this weekend or at future rounds, making the situation better.

"We're going to go out there, hopefully qualify first and win some races if we can. I'm sure it will be pretty close at the end but yoꦫu you've just got to keep at 🌠it.

"Obviously Macrow had a little more pace at Wakefield Park than we did. He's obviously improved as a driver and his team was working well which ෴I expected. As I said earlier in the year, we got the jump on a lot of teams in Adelaide, so I knew our main compe𝄹tition for the championship would be a lot stronger the following round.

"Having said that, we've got some new things to try at Eastern Cr🍬eek which I think will put us one step ahead again."

Macrow leads the HPDC V8 Supercar Series by 35 points while Sydney-based Canto has slipped to eighth position, 104 points behind Mac𝄹row.

There will also be a number of other HPDC V8 Supercar Series regulars aiming t🌠o make an impression on the pointy end of the points table this weekend.

Kanga Loaders Racing's Gary MacDonald's consistent year-to-date has seen jump up the championship points standings to second position. The Steve Ellery Racing backed Falcon has impressed onlookers by finishing the last two rounds ahead of the mo🥃re seasoned performers in Warren Luff, Mark Porter and Jose Fernandez.

"To be second in the Championship is exciting for me and Kanga Loaders, as we are relative newcomers to V8 Supercars. We didn't expect to be as well placed after only two ro♌unds. We are confident there is more improvement to come. Hopefully w༒e will show this over the next few rounds and maintain our position near the top," MacDonald said.

This weekend will also see the return of the Smiths Tr༺ucks entry with last years HPDC V8 Supercar Series regular Lee Holdsworth at the wheel and Car Trek Racing's Robbie Jones who will make his first appearance for the year in the Spies Hecker sponsored Commodore.