THE Aussie Racing Cars category always provides plenty of thrills and spills at Mount Panorama and while Chris Stevenson fell into the latter category last year, this week he is confident of a good run at Bathurst.

Stevenson came to Bathurst last year as a rookie in the series.

While he had the licence to push as hard as he possibly could given he was not risking a top 10 spot in the overall championship, Mount Panorama did not bring him a season highlight.

Instead he endured a blown engine in qualifying and crashed in the final race of the Bathurst round.

But 12 months on things are a little different.

Stevenson has been consistently strong in his Nissan Altima-chassis entry which currently has him sitting fourth championship. He is also well in the hunt for the top prize.

Just four points separate Stevenson from second place and he knows what unfolds at Bathurst this week will play a major role in shaping the end of season podium.

“It’s been a drastic improvement this year. I’ve been helped out a lot by the new car,” Stevenson said.

“As a team, at the start of the year we were hoping to maybe run in and around the top 10. We didn’t really know how it was going to play out. 

“Following the fourth we had at Eastern Creek last round, we really had to do a major reassessment of what we thought we were capable of.”

As well as experiencing the challenges the Mount Panorama track provides during last year’s Bathurst 1000 race week, Stevenson also boasts laps here as a two-time Bathurst Motor Festival Commodore Cup entrant.

But regardless of his prior experience at the circuit, the feeling of tackling the Mount is one that never gets any less exciting for Stevenson.

“It’s still awe inspiring when you do those first few laps at the Mount. I’ve been coming to Mount Panorama since I was 11. I remember coming to the Mount watching Peter Brock during his last ever full season and I thought to myself how great it would be to race there,” he said.

“Whenever I get out there, I fan boy out a bit and say to myself that I’m now out there racing.”

A second place finish in the championship is now the aim for Stevenson, but catching series leader Brendon Pingel is still very much an achievable goal.

Pingel currently has 245 points to top the standings ahead of Craig Woods (225), Adam Uebergang (224) and Stevenson (221) in a close top four.

“The new chassis is tight and responsive to the engineering changes we make. I’m on a real confidence boost with my racing and riding the high at the moment,” Stevenson said.

“We’ve proved that we’ve got the speed, it’s now just being able making sensible decisions. I used to get a bit hot under the collar with the helmet on, but now I am thinking a lot more about the long term when I’m racing. I’ve become a lot more mature as a driver.”