Craig's Corner: Why the stakes are even higher in Tassie

This is the eighth exclusive Supercars.com column by Supercars Hall of Famer Craig Lowndes for the 2024 season. Seven-time Bathurst winner Lowndes will preview each round of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship from his own perspective, continuing with this weekend’s NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint.

The pressure is going to be on this weekend. At a track like Symmons Plains, the whole field can be within half a second, so the smallest mistake can be the difference between starting on pole, and starting 15th.

Symmons Plains is one of the two shortest laps on the calendar, along with Perth, which makes it really tricky. To put it all together is really challenging.

It goes without saying, qualifying is important everywhere. However, it’s heightened in Tasmania. It's critical to be starting from the front first couple of rows to have any chance of victory.

The most important thing in qualifying in Tasmania is getting clean air. It’s only 2.4km around Symmons Plains, and we've seen in the past how quickly you can trip yourself up. If you go too quick on your out-lap, you will catch the end of the train before you even get to the finish line. Teams must have strong communications going on throughout.

One thing that's going to be interesting is if drivers play the team game, when it comes to teammates helping each other out with getting a tow. It's crucial to get every one of those seven corners right, but you can make up time on the back straight too.

In the past, I had agreements with teammates over giving each other a tow. It's going to be interesting how teams approach that side of it, especially Triple Eight, given both drivers are fighting for the title. I'm not 100 percent sure how that will transpire this weekend, but I think but you definitely want to be helping out your teammate.

Getting tyre temp, brake temp and engine temp is going to be key for performance. When you go qualifying, you need to get everything warmed up to maximise straight-line speed. It will also be interesting to see how many laps it's going to take to be able to generate a lap time in qualifying.

It's one of the most chaotic first race laps of the season, especially if you've got a championship on the line. We saw last year, Brodie Kostecki was hit at the hairpin, and Shane van Gisbergen crashed the next day. There's so much to lose early on.

After the lights go out, once you navigate Turns 1, 2 and 3 under the bridge, there’s plenty of jostling for position down to the infamous hairpin. It's not a straight run into the braking zone; it does actually bend a little, which makes it really awkward.

If you are the leader heading into the hairpin, you definitely want to take the low line. But then, you've got to be really careful because of the slingshot effect from the car behind. If you can hold it around the outside and use the high line, the drive off the hairpin will give you the momentum down the back straight past the car ahead.

From there, it's so important at the beginning of the race to try and break the tow from the car behind, because you do get a strong slipstream down into Turn 6.

Something we see plenty of in Tasmania is side-drafting. You're going to want to use that to full effect when you’re chasing. Ideally, you want to have a low drag car set-up, just to be able to maximise that back straight speed.

Tyre life won’t be too big an issue, given it’s going to be cold. It’s probably going to be the coldest we've ever seen since we've raced down there! It will be really interesting to see how teams combat that. The team that works it out fastest will likely be the team to beat.

Communication will also be critical in the races during the pit stops, because of the tricky pit exit. You enter back onto the circuit right onto the race line at Turn 2, so having a bit of awareness around you is really important.

Looking at the championship, Will Brown still leads, but Chaz Mostert is in top form. Chaz seems to be in a really good head space, and he looks very motivated to finish this part of the season strongly, given the enduros are next. He's found great momentum at an important time of the year, and he’ll be hoping Walkinshaw Andretti United have gotten on top of their Super Soft tyre issues.

Cam Waters and Tickford Racing have found some really good form as well. Cam is working well with Thomas Randle, who is improving each time he gets in the car.

Then, you’ve got Matt Payne, who has somewhat run under the radar. He’s had some great performances this year, but probably hasn't had the consistency.

Dick Johnson Racing had some good pace in Sydney, it looks like they're only getting better, while Matt Stone Racing has some pretty good form in Tassie as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Nick Percat and Cameron Hill are both fighting towards the front.

There’s so much at play this weekend. You cannot afford to make any mistakes, whether it's under brakes or running a little wide on a corner.

It’s high pressure and high stakes, and after the last few rounds, it bodes to be Supercars at its best!

The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint on August 16-18. Tickets for the event are on sale now. Live coverage can be found on Foxtel, with live streaming available on Kayo. Highlights will be shown on the Seven Network and 7plus. International viewers can follow all the action on Superview.