Hi to all you Supercars Fans Around the world!
Well, it has finally arrived! The 2026 Supercars Championship has started.
The new season kicked off with round 1, The Dunlop Sydney 500 at the Sydney Motorsport Park (aka Eastern Creek) on the weekend Feb 20-22.
It was an exciting 3 race event that became a showcase for all the hard work that happened in the off season.
Red Bull Ampol Racing have ditched GMH (Holden) and returned to Ford for the first time since 2009.
In addition, Red Bull Ampol Racing now have 3 cars on the track for the first time since Craig Lowndes retired in 2018. The new driver behind the wheel of car 11 is rookie Jackson Walls, a young and upcoming graduate from the Super 2’s.
Toyota also made its debut in Supercars. The very handsome Toyota GR Supra is being used by Walkinshaw TWG Racing and Brad Jones Racing. In its first event it has proved as extremely competitive. It will be interesting to see how they do through the year.
The other news of interest is that Walkinshaw Andretti United partially changed hands and now operates under the name Walkinshaw TWG Racing.
It was a typically beaut Sydney summer weekend for this years’ Sydney 500. Somewhere near to 30 degrees and humid.
In the first race, James Golding had earned pole position and teammate Aaron Cameron was right alongside him.
Blanchard racing couldn’t be more pleased with themselves having their drivers at the front of the grid. The smiles on their faces didn’t last long.
The start was signalled. James Golding’s car lurched forward but then didn’t move. In his excitement he stalled it on the start line. As Golding lost critical seconds restarting the engine, Aaron Cameron stole away with the lead and the cars behind weaved past. By the time he got going he was in 5th place.
One would normally lose all hope of regaining position in a short 26 lap race but the team and his own “embarrassment force factor” pushed him forward with his mission.
By the middle of the race, Aaron Cameron still had the lead and amazingly Golding worked his way into second place.
Broc Feeney was in 3rd place with little opportunity to make an attack on the two leaders. In a strategy requiring extreme precision and speed, Feeney went into the pits. The crew filled his tank and changed tyres in 7.2 seconds. The speed of his crew was enough to give him a hidden gain.
Once Cameron and Golding took their mandatory pit stops, Feeney had secured the lead.
With 5 laps to go Broc Feeney was 1.287 seconds ahead of Aaron Cameron. Cameron Waters dropped from 3rd to 5th place. Golding moved into 3rd.
The 2 Blanchard Racing drivers chased Broc Feeney for all their worth. Broc Feeney at the front had ‘clean air’ advantage and kept edging away from his rivals without fault.
Feeney showed he was in as good form as he was in his last record breaking season.
He crossed the finish line to take the win 2.934 seconds ahead of Aaron Cameron. James Golding came in 3rd place 1.215 seconds later.
For such a short race it was very exciting and had an unexpected outcome.
Race 1 Results:
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Aaron Cameron – Blanchard Racing Team
3rd James Golding – Blanchard Racing Team
In Race 2 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position. Alongside him was Brodie Kostecki.
Among other drivers, Broc Feeney and Will Brown were slowed down by heavy rain during the qualification session. Feeney qualified 9th on the grid and Brown 11th.
As the race went green Anton de Pasquale had the line heading into turn 1 on the first of 52 laps.
Jackson Walls ran wide at turn 2 which dropped him down to 24th place. Declan Fraser and Macauley Jones did the same so also joined Jackson Walls at the back.
For a while Anton de Pasquale had smoke coming from the right rear corner of his Camaro. He must have been hit on the rear quarter panel, and the guard was rubbing the tyre. Lucky for the leader the problem self-corrected after a while.
On lap 10 Anton de Pasquale was still holding the lead. Brodie Kostecki was in 2nd place.
Further back in the pack Andre Heimgartner came to a rolling stop on the track due to no oil pressure. The first safety car of the weekend was deployed.
While the race was under yellow flag, most drivers took the opportunity to head to the pits.
As Feeney was released from his pit stop, he tried beating James Golding to the exit, but they made contact. No real damage was suffered but Feeney did receive a 5 second penalty.
Feeney’s teammate, Will Brown was next in line at the pits. He also received a 5 second penalty for wheels spinning whilst still hoisted on the jacks.
The race restarted on lap 15 with Anton de Pasquale out the front.
By the middle of the race Anton de Pasquale still maintained his lead. Matt Payne took up 2nd place and pushed Brodie Kostecki back to third.
Cameron Waters closed in on Aaron Cameron in 5th place.
Anton de Pasquale continued to hold the number 1 spot while Kostecki earned back 2nd place from Payne.
Brodie Kostecki wanted the win and never gave up challenging the leader. Pasquale simply could not shake him and get some distance between them.
The attacks from Kostecki continued all the way to the finish line. There was only 0.363 seconds between them. It was incredibly tense.
Race 2 Results:
1st Anton de Pasquale – Team 18
2nd Brodie Kostecki – Shell V-Power Racing Team
3rd Matt Payne – Grove Racing
For Race 3 Broc Feeney earned his first pole for the season. Last year he broke the record earning 19 pole positions out of 34 races. Quite incredible.
Kai Allen was in P2 on the grid next to Feeney. They were ready to go in what I call “The Failing Cool Suit Race”.
In only his second year of Supercars, Kai Allen launched off the start line ahead of the more experienced Feeney. His exceptional start only gave him the lead to turn 2 where Broc Feeney took over.
On lap 2 Broc Feeney called in to the engineer over the radio, “Is my cool suit not working or what?”. The temperature outside was about 30 degrees so it would have been over 50 inside the car. Feeney would be feeling the heat almost from the start. The team couldn’t fix it.
At turn 6 Rylan Gray pushed Cameron Hill forward to hit David Reynolds from behind and they both spun. Right behind them, Rylan Gray had to swerve to avoid a collision and went off the track. They were mid pack so were lucky the second half of the drivers didn’t pile up on top of them. Once all three drivers got going again, they were at the back of the field. Later the officials issued Rylan Gray a 15 second penalty for what they thought was an avoidable incident.
Almost immediately David Reynolds also called in with a cool suit failure.
By lap 6 Broc Feeney had worked up a 1.5 second lead over Kai Allen still in second place.
Somehow there was a plastic bag in the front grill of car 88 driven by Feeney. Blocking the airflow caused the engine temperature to rise. With a failed cool suit, Feeney could feel the extra heat in the cabin and was called in for his first pit stop.
Over the next few laps all but 2 drivers had taken their pit stops. After a dozen or so torturous laps they finally pitted and Feeney reassumed the lead. I was frustrated just watching.
The front runners began to spread out by the middle of the race. Kai Allen trailed Broc Feeney’s lead by 3.7 seconds. James Golding was another 3.9 seconds back.
It was around lap 15 that Will Brown’s cool suit failed. Now there were 2 hot drivers from Red Bull Ampol Racing.
Lap 29 turned into a moment of fireworks! Golding’s car lost the left rear wheel and a spectacular fountain of sparks shot up from the car dragging its undercarriage along the track. The wheel rolled across the infield and nearly hit cars on the other side of the track.
The safety car came out to limit speeds while Golding’s car limped back to the pits.
The restart was on lap 34 and that’s when the tropical storm arrived. Still wearing their slick tyres Kai Allen and Broc Feeney took off side by side. Feeney had the driver’s line as they reached the first turn but Kai Allen swooped around the outside of the bend in a superbly executed challenge. At the next turn it was Allen who had the advantage, but Feeney returned the challenge. They duelled on the wet track in a spectacular showcase of driving for a while longer. It was incredible.
Broc Feeney wrestled the lead from Kai Allen.
Soon after the scars of battle showed up and Kai Allen reported steering problems. He began to slow and dropped from 2nd to 23rd place.
On the final lap Brodie Kostecki and Aaron Cameron came together at turn 2. Cameron was stuck on the track. There was no time for the safety car to be deployed as Broc Feeney reached the finish line to take his second win for the weekend.
Matt Payne followed in second place after 2.898 seconds. 1.886 seconds later Cameron Waters was 3rd.
The fact that Feeney had driven to a win without a functioning cool suit is a testament to his spirit.
After the race, Brown and Reynolds both needed medical attention due to 50+ degree heat and dehydration. The 3 drivers all looked seriously unwell.
Race 3 Results:
1st Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
2nd Matt Payne – Grove Racing
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
The next event is the Melbourne Supersprint 5 – 8 March.
