Four-way title fight forms at midway point

The fight for the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship is shaping up as a tight four-way battle after an eventful NTI Townsville 500.

At the midway point of the season, the top four drivers are covered by 72 points.

The top two, Erebus Motorsport teammates Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki, are split by a measly seven points.

The margin between the top two in the championship has never been closer after six rounds since the 300-point round system was introduced in 2008.

It’s a far cry from the last five seasons, where the average points lead after six rounds was 191 points.

Kostecki had led the points since Melbourne in April, but a Saturday mechnical drama — coupled with Brown’s win — saw the orange numbers move across the Erebus garage.

The big movers have been the Red Bull Ampol Racing teammates, with Broc Feeney now just 26 points from the series lead.

Feeney was 191 points away after Tasmania, but round wins in Darwin and Townsville have pushed the #88 Camaro driver into the title picture.

The standout of the four is Shane van Gisbergen, who despite being winless in 10 starts — and with two podiums in that run — is just 72 points away.

Brown (four wins), Kostecki (two), Feeney (four) and van Gisbergen (three) combine for 13 of the 17 wins so far this season.

The Sunday DNF for Chaz Mostert cost the Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford driver dearly; after leading the points after five races, he is now 243 points off the pace.

The key for all four Camaro drivers, from this point onwards, is ensuring they don’t trip over their respective teammates, and make the most of the bad days.

Erebus had to massage both drivers in the second Tasmania race, while van Gisbergen and Feeney were both caught in a team orders communication breakdown on Sunday.

Critically, the teams’ championship margin between Erebus and Triple Eight is 91 points. Two rounds ago, it was 276 points in Erebus’ favour.

"Getting a podium yesterday was fantastic, but we certainly got out of jail today,” Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup said.

"We qualified 13th and dead-last, but we nailed the strategy, got a little bit lucky with the Safety Car and ended up fourth and fifth.

"Honestly, we should all be high fiving each other after that performance, because it could have been a lot worse, and we could have lost a lot of team points, but we didn’t.

"We also got the round win, and it’s not every day you can say that especially when the category is so competitive."

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight on July 28-30. Tickets are on sale now.

Championship after six rounds (300-point round scoring system)

*2017 Tasmania Saturday race didn't count for points