DJR Team Penske has not only overtaken the former Ford factory team, which had been Triple Eight's closest rival since 2011, but also become the squad to beat after setting the pace in the opening 10 races of the season.

The Shell V-Power Racing Falcons of Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin are involved in an intense title fight with the Red Bull Holden Racing Team Commodores of Supercars titleholder Shane van Gisbergen and record six-time V8 champion Jamie Whincup.

Under the Prodrive Racing Australia banner, the team formerly known as Ford Performance Racing is running four Falcon FG Xs for former Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom, young guns Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters, and veteran Jason Bright.

So far this season, PRA has been left behind, scoring just one race win to DJR Team Penske's five and Triple Eight's four in the first 10 races.

DJRTP's rise follows a two-year restructure of Ford folk hero Dick Johnson's struggling squad under the control of American racing legend Roger Penske, including the recruitment of McLaughlin and Triple Eight technical guru Ludo Lacroix.

But amid growing talk that the Supercars championship is a two-team race, PRA isn't ready to concede that it is out of the running.

Following a productive test day at Winton last week, Prodrive team boss Tim Edwards expects Mostert, Winterbottom and Waters to return from the series' month-long winter break among the front-runners at this weekend's Darwin Triple Crown.

"We're in a very strong position," Edwards said. "Granted, the DJR Team Penske car has set the bar, but we've been there or thereabouts, winning a race and leading races. I think we've been very competitive."

PRA's solo victory was scored at Phillip Island by Mostert, whose results in his Supercheap Auto Racing entry have been compromised by mistakes and a mechanical failure.

Edwards maintained there was underlying speed in the team's Falcons that he is confident will be more consistent from the sprint races on Saturday and Sunday at Hidden Valley Raceway.

"Our pace is there, just a couple of things haven't quite gone our way," he said. "I'm not at all concerned about our pace. It's so close at the top. It could turn very easily.

"You're talking about being such a small line between being the guy in front and the guy behind."

He also expected Winterbottom, who won the 2015 title in the team's final Ford-backed year, to continue his recovery from the brake problem that dogged him in the early races.

"He's inching forward as well," Edwards said. "He's getting more and more comfortable with the car and the changes we're making.

"I'm not concerned about him. He had a difficult start to the season largely because of us and he's clawing his way back now."

Winterbottom is hoping the gains found in last week's test day will enable his The Bottle-O Racing Falcon to get closer to the front-running race pace of the DJR Team Penske Fords.

"On our day, we're good enough, but we've been getting it wrong more than we've being getting it right," he said. "Our speed drops in the races, so the tuning of the car is the biggest thing that we're lacking at the moment, understanding conditions and actually getting it right all the time.

"That's what the other guys [DJRTP and Triple Eight] are doing really well. We can match them, just not often enough."

While contending for race wins might be a realistic goal, PRA's hopes of joining DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight in the championship battle may already be out of reach.

Mostert is fifth in the standings, trailing title leader Coulthard by 199 points, which is still close enough at this stage to rank as an outside chance for the title.

But Winterbottom - seventh, 262 points behind - and Waters - 10th, with a deficit of 357 points - are effectively out of contention for the V8 crown.

Coulthard is just four points clear of Whincup, whose consistency has offset his unprecedented lack of a race win so far this season, with McLaughlin a further 24 points behind and van Gisbergen another nine back.

With only 37 points covering the top four and the competition between the two heavyweight teams so close, the title tussle is set to come down to more than just two drivers at the end of the season for the first time in several years.

"This year there's definitely a clear four cars from two teams that are up front," said van Gisbergen, whose only title rival last year was his teammate Whincup. "We're not just battling in-house, which is good as well."

DJR Team Penske's big advantage over Triple Eight has been in qualifying, with McLaughlin and Coulthard winning seven of 10 pole positions.

Triple Eight also conducted a test last week and van Gisbergen hopes the new developments tried at Queensland Raceway will bridge the speed gap,

"Hopefully, we've made some gains," he said. "I think there are a few areas where we're lacking, but qualifying's definitely where we're most lacking."

In the Supercars teams' championship, DJR Team Penske leads Triple Eight by 48 points, with PRA a further 543 points behind.

An added edge to the rivalry was long-time Triple Eight technical director Lacroix's defection to DJR Team Penske, causing animosity from which van Gisbergen has stayed aloof.

"I think for some people [at Triple Eight] it's a little personal, but I only worked with Ludo for the year, so not so much for me," van Gisbergen said. "But I can feel that the team really wants to beat Penske, but I have no real ill feelings towards them. They're just another competitor that's quick."