Tickford boss Tim Edwards say the Bathurst 1000 is the most important race of the year

That's why Edwards is hungry to mark Tickford's 20^th campaign at the Bathurst 1000 with glory.

Since the team formerly known as Ford Performance Racing joined the grid in 2003, it has twice been able to celebrate a Great Race success story.

Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards delivered the team its first win in 2013, and the following year Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris pulled off a remarkable last to first drive.

On top of that there has been six runner-up finishes, current Tickford driver Cameron Waters having placed second the last two years.

This year Tickford will again form a four-pronged attack on the Mount Panorama enduro and Edwards makes no secret of the goal he's set his drivers.

"It's no surprise to say we're headed to Bathurst to go and win. For a lot of us the whole reason we go racing is to have the chance to win there, so it's absolutely our goal," Edwards said.

"There's been a lot of days and nights that have gone into the preparation, but there's no one day that's more important in our sport than race day at Bathurst. We're ready to tackle that and give it our all to be on the top step when all is said and done on Sunday.

"The cars are prepped, the crews are ready, we have a really strong set of driver pairings across all of our cars, we're in a very good space to head to the mountain and have four very competitive cars."

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The combination of Waters and co-driver James Moffat in the #6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang is one of the favourites for this year's Bathurst 1000.

It's the combination that placed second last year and Waters is currently second in the drivers' championship.

Brothers Jake and Kurt Kostecki will share the #56 Tradie Mustang for Tickford, while Thomas Randle is set for his first Bathurst 1000 as lead driver and will share the seat of his #55 Castrol Racing entry with Zak Best.

Then there's James Courtney, a man who made his Bathurst 1000 debut in 2005, who is the lead driver of the #5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang.

He'll be paired with Zane Goddard, who got valuable seat time at Tickford's pre-Bathurst test day at Winton last week.

"It'll be great to have my little mate Zano driving with me, he's been getting lots of laps in the car to get comfortable and I'm looking forward to getting to the mountain with him," Courtney said.

"He obviously doesn't race anything throughout the year ... it's his first time running with Tickford as well.

"It's going to be a lot of him to learn, but he raced in the main game for a couple of seasons so he knows what to do. Hopefully we get to Bathurst and we're strong."

Courtney currently sits 12^th in the drivers' championship, the 42-year-old having 12 top 10 finishes including podiums at Perth and The Bend, but also two races in which he's not been classified.

This year will be his 17^th start in the Great Race and he's hoping to improve on his seventh placing from 2021 alongside Randle.

Courtney does know what it feels like to stand on the Bathurst 1000 podium, having finished as runner-up in 2007 and placed third on three occasions.

"I always love going to Bathurst. It's such a thrill to drive and a real driver's track, and obviously the biggest event of the year, so I'm really looking forward to it," he said.

"The team's been pretty strong at Bathurst, and we had a pretty crazy race last year, spending most of the race a lap down and coming back to finish in the top 10.

"It's the only big event I haven't won; I've won Gold Coast, I've won Adelaide, I've been on the podium several times at Bathurst, but never on the top step, so hopefully we can change that this weekend."

The Supercars field will hit the track for the first time at 11am Thursday for the opening practice session.

The Bathurst 1000 will commence at 11.15am on Sunday.

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