Ford stalwart DJR Team Penske is expected to become the dominant Holden squad Triple Eight's main rival in Supercars this season.
With a new-look line-up, the team founded by V8 legend Dick Johnson has the driving talent, engineering brainpower and financial resources to emerge as a major threat.
Other Supercars teams, including Triple Eight, anticipate that DJR Team Penske will emerge as a consistent challenger for race wins this season, which begins with the Adelaide 500 from March 3-5.
As well as future Supercars superstar Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske has signed the technical guru that masterminded Triple Eight's pacesetting cars and reunited with a big-money sponsor.
Fuel and lubricants giant Shell has returned as the team's title backer in a multiyear agreement that reprises the glory days of DJR, control of which was bought in September 2014 by American racing icon Roger Penske.
The multimillion-dollar deal underpins the changes made by the team to become an established front-runner.
The squad unveiled its new Shell V-Power Racing Team livery outside Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, reviving a famous partnership during DJR's most successful period.
Shell was the primary backer of Johnson's Ford team from 1987-2004 and has supported the team continuously since 1981.
During the heyday of their alliance, DJR won three of its seven V8 championships and two of three Bathurst 1000s.
The return of the famous red, yellow and white racing colours coincides with the completion of a two-year rebuild following the takeover by Penske, who owns 51 per cent of the team.
Johnson and long-time supporters Steve Brabeck and Ryan Story, who now runs DJR Team Penske, co-own the remaining stake.
McLaughlin joins fellow race-winning New Zealander Fabian Coulthard to form one of the strongest combinations in Supercars.
Their Falcon FG Xs will benefit from the appointment of former Triple Eight technical director Ludo Lacroix, who will oversee the team's engineering operations as competition director.
Lacroix designed the Triple Eight-run Falcons and Commodores that have dominated Supercars since 2008.
DJR Team Penske has also strengthened its afterguard by promoting experienced V8 technician Ben Croke to team manager.
The team has added so much strength that even Triple Eight team owner Roland Dane acknowledges it is poised to become his squad's greatest threat.
"The people I've been clearly expecting to step up for the last year or so is DJR Team Penske, and I haven't changed my opinion that sooner or later they will be our biggest opposition," Dane told Fairfax Media. "Whether it's this year remains to be seen, but I'd be amazed if we weren't fighting hard with DJR Team Penske given the changes they've made, in the car and out."
DJR Team Penske managing director and part-owner Ryan Story confirmed that after scoring podiums last year, race wins – if not contending for the championship – were expected this year.
"Without doubt," Story said. "We have drivers who we know can win if we give them the equipment and our sole focus is bridging the gap [to Triple Eight]."
McLaughlin, who won two races and finished third in the Supercars drivers' championship last year with Volvo, is convinced he made the right move.
"I'm a lot more confident than I thought I would be at this stage," he told Fairfax Media. "I'm feeling comfortable with the team. For me, the transition's been better than I thought."
McLaughlin is also confident that he and Coulthard will eventually take on Triple Eight's Red Bull Holden Racing Team duo of V8 title-holder Shane van Gisbergen and record six-time champion Jamie Whincup and beat them this season.
"That's our aim," he said. "I think we have a good shot. It'll take time to be consistently up the front, but I think we have all the ingredients and resources to do it."
After a year with DJR Team Penske, Coulthard tempers expectations of immediate success against the might of Triple Eight.
"We're under no illusion about the challenge ahead," he said. "I don't think it's something we can challenge for at the start of the year, but by the end of the year I'd like to think we can take it to them and give them a bit of a challenge."