FOR a man who is about to contest his 20th Bathurst 1000, it might be odd to hear Rick Kelly say it will be a learning process for him at Mount Panorama.
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Since making his Great Race debut in 2001 Kelly has twice stood on the top tier of the podium, while he has also tackled the famous circuit in the Bathurst 12 Hour three times since then.
But for all the laps Kelly has done at the Mount, prior to Thursday none had been in the Ford Mustang he will race in this year's 1000.
Kelly Racing made the switch to the Mustang this year after seven seasons campaigning Nissan Altimas. It is a change which was made harder when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
That is why Kelly knows he will have new lessons to learn in this year's Bathurst 1000.
"Once we built the car in real rush over Christmas we knew we needed some real solid time at the workshop to be able to develop it and do all the things that we wanted to do and we just haven't had that," Kelly said.
"We were into lock down almost straight away and then we've been on the road, so it's stopped development largely and that's been a tough one for us.
"We just want to get the best result we can possibly get and we know at Bathurst the fastest car doesn't always win that event ... but it's going to be a bit about learning the car as well."
Kelly's best results so far this season have been sixth placings at Sydney and The Bend (twice). Finding qualifying speed has been a struggle, but swapping to a lighter engine at the most recent round is something he feels will help when it comes to Bathurst.
The change from multiple sprint races to Sunday's 161-lap format is also something Kelly feels will work in favour of himself and co-driver Dale Wood.
"It all certainly helps and this is engine is one thing that I think will help over a longer race as well," he said.
"The one thing we've been having a bit of a tougher time with is unlocking a bit of speed on the new tyre in qualifying, that will be an interesting one for us at Bathurst on the harder compound tyre.
"But it's a 1000 kilometre race and we haven't done a fuel stop since the Adelaide 500, so I'm looking forward to that being a part of it and working out how you're going to change up your strategy and move your way forward up the order.
"The races we've been doing if you qualify in a tough position it's very, very tough to move your way forward unless you have a speed advantage on everyone else.
"At Tailem Bend, even though we didn't have great qualifying speed, every time we got clean air we were able to lap the same times as the guys up the front, so that's awesome for us and a step forward for sure. I'm hopeful that will transfer across to the Bathurst circuit."
Given his competitive nature, it's no surprise that Kelly would have liked to be sitting higher than 16th in the championship heading into Sunday's season-ending 1000.
In his 18 years as a full-timer, he has only once placed worst than 16th in the championship. So while Kelly is well aware he and his team as a whole have made gains with their Mustangs, he'd love to go out on a high note.
"When you are driving you want to be at the front, so when you look at this season, it's been a tough one and we've had some tough results," he said.
"So hopefully we can just have a great day out on Sunday as a group. There's no better way to roll into the next season than finishing this one on a really good high."
