It is officially Supercars enduro season.
The run to the end of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship begins at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia, with a revamped 500km enduro kicking off a break-neck 12-week run for the final five rounds.
After stealing the Repco Sprint Cup at the death, Broc Feeney enters the Ryco Enduro Cup with the championship leader's orange numbers, and a new co-driver in Nick Percat. However, there's an ever hungry pack behind.
On a track layout not seen in Supercars since the COVID-impacted 2020 season, just what can we expect to see in Tailem Bend? Supercars.com make five bold predictions.
Grove and Triple Eight both miss the podium
The Bend last year was not a storybook weekend for either team. Triple Eight was hit by a bizarre practice collision between co-drivers Scott Pye and Jamie Whincup, who later made several mistakes trying to atone for a refuelling issue, while Pye and Will Brown scythed through from 16th to fourth at the flag. Kai Allen, meanwhile, qualified a dismal 23rd, though Matt Payne and Garth Tander flew the flag with a third placed finish. Penrite Racing has gone to a new level since, but there are some strong pairings, and a whole new circuit variation too.
The first ever Bend 500 Safety Car
There were plenty of off-track excursions last year, and the odd bout of car-to-car contact, yet the Safety Car remained in pit lane for all 500km. While the West Circuit does still have ample amounts of run off, it's much more of a bullring in nature, omitting the triple-apex right hander that was notorious for spreading the field out. It also features a tight right hander at Turn 6, which narrows substantially at the apex. On the opening lap, where you'd expect the vast majority of co-drivers to start, it could be a major hotspot.
Kostecki/Hazelwood go back-to-back
Through all of Dick Johnson Racing's ups and downs this year, one thing that can not be denied is that the raw speed of Brodie Kostecki's #17 Ford has been strong everywhere. It's certainly a major improvement on where the team was 12 months ago, but The Bend was arguably DJR's most complete performance all year long. A brilliant opening stint by Todd Hazelwood helped set up the win, and the popular South Aussie enters this enduro season with a 200km race under his belt in Darwin, subbing for Kostecki. All signs point towards the 2024 Bathurst winners being tough to beat.
Walkinshaw TWG's Finals chase continues to Bathurst
On the whole, it's been a thoroughly impressive first season for Toyota. Yes, reliability has been a concern, but that is hardly a new issue for new Supercars manufacturers, see Nissan and Mercedes, but the performance has been encouraging. However, despite that, both Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood are still no certainty to make the Finals, currently eighth and ninth in points, and 242 and 169 points clear of 11th. They should still get home from here, but it could be a last-minute job at Bathurst. The last thing they can afford is another reliability stumble.
Erebus secure a double top 10
Whenever the Supercars calendar flicks over to September and enduro season, Erebus Motorsport always seems to find another gear. In 2024, both its entries were right in the conversation, with the Kostecki/Hazelwood combination winning Bathurst. 12 months later, the inexperienced but talented pairing of Cooper Murray and Jobe Stewart were five laps away from defending Erebus' Bathurst crown. Murray and Stewart were also strong at The Bend, and are now split across both the team's entries. Young guns Lochie Dalton and Jarrod Hughes are up for the challenge.
The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of Supercars, teams or drivers.
