SBR ready to fight back in 2007.

Stone Brothers Racing was in fighting mood as it took the wraps off its 2007 V8 Supercar campaign, determined to reclaim the upper hand it enjoyed during a hat-trick of titles in 2003, '04 and '05.

Unveiling the Caltex Racing and Jeld-Wen Motorsport Ford BF Falcons, the admitted that, after a disappointing 2006, it has delved deep in the off-season to come back with the solid race package amid the engineering excellence SBR is renowned for. Team manager Ross Stone said that changes made in the off-season had created a fresh atmosphere at SBR, and that had helped to improve the drive for the coming season.

"There has been a bit of a shuffle with roles in the team this year, and we have a few new people on board due to the expansion of the team to run a Fujitsu car," he revealed, "The changes have freshened the place up and the attitude of the team is great.

"Some people say that last year was the year we had to have after our success in '03, '04 and '05. I don't necessarily agree but, regardless, we don't want to find ourselves in that position again. The team certainly has the passion to be back up there challenging for the championship."

For drivers Russell Ingall and James Courtney, anything less than race wins and titles will not be good enough and Courtney, who enters his second full V8 Supercar season, the bar has been raised after his eleventh place overall in 2006.

"This year, it's definitely race wins and challenging for the championship that's on the agenda," he insisted, "I don't think anyone is going to be happy with anything less. In all the other categories that I've been in, the first half of my first season has been trying, the second half has been good and then, the following year, I have won the championship. So I'd like to keep that trend going."

Ingall says that SBR wants the #1 plate back and that determination shows in the team's preparation over the off-season.

"The feeling at SBR right now is definitely better," the veteran - and 2005 champion - insisted, "Last year was a disaster in a lot of respects, and people in the team were disappointed. It wasn't an effort that was worthy of a championship team, and it didn't start well for us from the word go.

"This year, we are going in with a more known quantity with the race car. We are making really good progress and there is a lot more to come. It's a matter of 'don't reinvent the wheel', come out with a good strong solid package, get the first couple of races out of the way and then start building, getting the car going quicker and really hit it hard from there."

Both 2007 SBR entries will feature revised liveries, and the two drivers are pleased with what they saw at the unveiling. Courtney, in particular, is happy that he will stand out from the crowd with the new Jeld-Wen colours.

"You won't miss the Jeld-Wen Falcon this year - there are no other cars like it out there on the grid, so it will stand out," he said of the bright yellow livery, "Jeld-Wen and myself were both new to the team last year, so we've kind of been finding our feet together, but the fans are now starting to recognise and look for the car so, hopefully, we can get some race wins for them and pay back their faith in me."

Ingall was equally complimentary of Caltex, which enters its eighth year with SBR.

"Caltex has been part of V8 Supercars and part of SBR for a long time," he said, "It was fantastic to repay their loyalty to SBR, the category and motor racing with the #1 last year. But they know the business and they know how tough the business can be. When you are having a rough year like last year, they understand that. The ones that survive are the ones that come out fighting and that's what we are going to do this year. They know that we won't give up until we get that #1 on the side of the car again."