Slade took a liking to the tight street circuit at the inaugural event last year, with third in Saturday’s race, before bad luck pushed him further down the field in Sunday’s finale.

“It’s a good, fun track to drive – pretty busy,” Slade said.

“There’s not much time to rest, which makes doing two 250-kilometre races over two days physically demanding.

“Unlike Adelaide, which is the first race of the year, with this one being the last race, we are all pretty race fit, so it’s not quite as bad.”

Like last year, the Supercars championship will be decided at some point over the weekend, with only 14 points separating DJR Team Penske’s Scott Mclaughlin and Triple Eight’s Shane Van Gisbergen.

Despite not being in contention, Slade is looking forward to the event.

“Last year was great – there was just so many people and it was great racing,” Slade said.

“The track is in an amazing setting, along the beach and through all the buildings and stuff.

“I don’t get involved in any of the championship title stuff, I’ll just drive my own race and race everybody regardless of who they are or what make of car they are driving.”

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Slade is sitting 11th in the championship, 83 points behind BJR teammate Nick Percat, and, whilst he would like to finish in the top-10, he won’t be risking a good team result to get there.

“Nick’s a good guy to race against and it would be great if we could both finish the year in the top-10,” Slade said.

“Rick Kelly is a little bit up the road in ninth, but at this track you never know.

“It’s a hard place to pass at, but being so tight and physical, people make mistakes, so you just press hard and see what opens up for you.

“But I’m really keen to have a strong finish to the year, both for myself and the team.

“We are currently fourth in the team’s championship, but Erebus are only a few points away, so we need to make sure we lock that in for BJR’s sake.

“To do that we’ll need to qualify well, that’s going to be really important for both Nick and I, then put your head down, be consistent and get a good result.”

BJR has been close to unlocking regular top-five results again this year, and fourth place in the 2018 team’s title would be just reward for another consistent campaign for the Albury-based squad.

The cars hit the track on Friday for two practice sessions, followed by 250-kilometre races on both Saturday and Sunday.

Qualifying is on Saturday and Sunday morning.