Five bold predictions for 2022 Supercars season

The 2022 Repco Supercars Championship is fast approaching, and it looms to be a memorable, unpredictable season.

Five weeks remain until the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight kicks off the new season. The grid is set, as are the race weekend formats.

Circuits which missed out due to the disrupted 2021 year will return, and new driver line-ups and teams will form a new-look grid.

What will happen? Supercars.com lays down an early marker with five bold predictions for the 2022 season.

1) There will be a new champion

We said we’d go bold, right? We haven’t seen a new champion since 2018, when Scott McLaughlin won his first title.

Shane van Gisbergen dominated in 2021, but behind him, several drivers made key gains; notably, Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters and Anton De Pasquale.

Red Bull Ampol Racing has gone through much change in the off-season and, critically, van Gisbergen has new engineer.

A title defence won’t be easy for the reigning champion, but it also shouldn’t be a surprise if he dominates again.

Still, expect the gap to close, but who will the new champion be? The aforementioned drivers have what it takes; it will come down to team performances.

2) We will have a title-deciding season finale

Something else we haven’t seen since 2018 was a final round title decider, as shown in the video above between McLaughlin and van Gisbergen.

With Sydney moving to open the season, Supercars has yet to settle on a venue for the season finale.

Wherever it is, we predict it will play host to an historic and thrilling weekend of racing.

3) No single driver will win more than seven races

A driver has won eight or more races in the last four seasons, and more than 13 in the last three.

The gap will close in 2022, and we have not only predicted a new champion, but a closer spread of victories. Seven drivers shared the 30 wins in 2021, although van Gisbergen accounted for 14 of them.

Runs of dominance like that don’t come around too often, and perhaps even van Gisbergen isn’t expecting to repeat what he achieved last year.

The champion, more often than not, wins the most races in a season. In 2022, expect there to be more winners.

4) There will be at least one new race winner

Supercars.com correctly predicted that the previous two seasons will feature first-time winners.

We’re going on a limb again for 2022, with several drivers ready to hit the top step after years of trying.

Broc Feeney, Thomas Randle and Brodie Kostecki are the best chances, with Jake Kostecki also joining Randle at Tickford Racing.

5) Every team will score a podium

Seven teams scored podiums in 2021. Team 18, Blanchard Racing Team, Matt Stone Racing and Team Sydney all showed glimpses of speed last year, but fell short.

This is perhaps the most bold prediction, considering how competitive the championship is. However, several circuits will return in 2022, providing a more random spread of venues.

There won’t be any one team dominating a double-header or, as we saw in Sydney, quadruple-header. Which team will be the most consistent?

The 13-event 2022 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Sydney in March.

Ticketing information for the event will be released soon.