Craig’s Corner: Why Waters and Brown will be fired up
This is the seventh exclusive Supercars.com column by Supercars Hall of Famer Craig Lowndes for the 2025 season. Seven-time Bathurst winner Lowndes will preview each round of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship from his own perspective, continuing with this weekend’s NTI Townsville 500.
It’s time for Townsville, and for the first time, we’re going racing from Friday!
The big addition for this year’s Townsville event is the Friday sprint race. Race weekend-wise, we’re going back to how we started the championship at Sydney Motorsport Park — and what a weekend that was!
To have a sprint race on Friday, then 200km races on Saturday, and Sunday, will be fascinating. I’m keen to see how teams adapt to that, considering that we've had four Super 440 rounds in a row.
The Saturday and Sunday races will be full of strategy, but the Friday sprint will come on a street circuit that will be quite green. Will drivers take risks on Friday or try and just consolidate? Well, you don't want wreck a car before the weekend, do you?
It's a catch-22, because while you need to be aggressive to get to the front, especially for those on the Finals bubble, you need to strike a balance and weigh up your risks and rewards.
You need to be forceful to climb up the order, but the track will evolve over the course of the weekend. Friday's race will be very, very different compared to Sunday afternoon. You’re going to get your money’s worth, that’s for sure!
Personally, I like the addition of a Friday sprint, because it gives the driver a feel for where the car's at before the weekend. You need to be confident, especially when you get into the longer races where strategy plays a part.
It’s our first genuine street circuit event of the season, and the last before we hit the Finals. When you look back at recent history, Triple Eight has struggled in Townsville, and Tickford Racing has been strong.
On that vein, I expect Cam Waters will probably be the guy the beat. His battle with Chaz Mostert last year was all-time. But Matt Payne and Ryan Wood have definitely shown and proven that they like this style of track, and can hunt wins.
Alternatively, I wouldn't put it past Richie Stanaway to surprise some people. Richie drives the cars hard and fast, and at a track like Townsville, where the car won't be perfect because of the nature of the layout, he could find some much-needed speed.
Drivers are coming from Darwin, where there’s plenty of run-off and room for error. Suddenly, it all changes. The kerbs are big, there are surface chances, and the menacing concrete walls are literally right there.
Street circuits require a mindset shift. We’ve seen some big incidents over the years, especially when drivers get caught out across the kerbs.
When Townsville first came onto the calendar, it took teams took a while to get their head around how to set their cars up for those kerbs. You need to be aggressive, but you also need the softness of the suspension to get the drive off the corners.
Looking ahead to the next street circuits on the calendar, could Townsville be a bit of a dress rehearsal for the Finals? There's definitely that thought in the background.
I know teams will be thinking about that. They’d be fools if they weren’t, because when we get to Gold Coast and Adelaide, that's exactly where the drivers and cars will need to be at their best. If they’re not, they won’t be in the title fight. It’s that simple.
So yes, you could say it is a bit of a dress rehearsal, but on the same token, there are a lot of drivers on that bubble that need to get into the 10. Watch for desperation, especially into the Turn 2 and Turn 11 hairpins.
My prediction? I’m going to back Cam this weekend. He really likes this track, and has great form on street circuits. Cam started this season off with absolute domination, and has been quiet since. He'll be fired up to get back to that form back.
As for Will Brown, yes, Chicago was tough — but when drivers drive different cars at different places, they definitely come back better drivers. Take Shane van Gisbergen —he excelled when he drove different cars.
Mentally, Brown will be definitely coming back with a really strong attitude. He has to fight for wins, because he needs it — Broc Feeney is in red-hot form!
