Mark Winterbottom’s dramatic Bathurst 1000 victory has ignited a traditional Ford vs Holden rivalry ahead of this weekend’s V8 Supercars event on the Gold Coast.

The Ford star’s Mount Panorama win, where he held off a challenge from Holden ace Jamie Whincup to land his – and his team’s – first Bathurst crown sets up an intriguing battle going into the Surfers Paradise races.

While this year’s championship had looked set to be a bragging rights competition between Whincup and his Red Bull Racing teammate Craig Lowndes, Winterbottom has stormed into contention with his past few rounds.

Noone has scored more points than the 32-year-old since the Townsville event, taking a 202 point chunk out of Whincup in the process to now sit just 142 points off the lead.

It means just one bad race for Whincup and Lowndes at the unforgiving 2.96km Surfers street circuit and Winterbottom could be in front going into the last two events of the year.

Not that the Ford man, who announced a four-year contract extension to keep him at FPR until the end of 2016 on Thursday, believes he’s in the box seat in the championship race.

“We’re within striking distance – 142 points. It’s going to be hard to catch there’s no doubt because Jamie, 99 per cent of the time, is bullet-proof,” Winterbottom told AAP.

“If we can keep scoring well and that little bit of confidence just takes us to another level, you’re not looking for a lot, but you need three solid rounds coming home.

“We don’t have the luxury of having a mistake up our sleeve, whereas they do.”

Winterbottom has a great record on the Gold Coast, finishing on the podium in seven of the last eight races in Surfers.

He says his victory over Whincup shows FPR can match it with Red Bull Racing when the push comes to shove but the Gold Coast is also a happy hunting ground for Whincup.

The four-time driver’s champion has taken pole position for the last four races at the venue, going on to win three of those races.

Lowndes’ record at Surfers is less spectacular, having struggled despite winning the event back in 2005.

The other championship contender, Will Davison, sits 181 points off the lead but Winterbottom’s teammate did win at Surfers in the final race last year.

“Always mega-critical, and it will be again this year,” Whincup told AAP.

“Four horse race. Like it was last year and the year before. So crucial, we’ve just got to keep our head and hopefully do a good job.”

The Gold Coast 600 gets underway on Friday with four practice sessions before a 300km race each on Saturday and Sunday.