Craig's Corner: Waters bounces back, Team 18 bites back

This is the sixth exclusive Supercars.com column by Supercars Hall of Famer Craig Lowndes for the 2026 season. Seven-time Bathurst winner Lowndes will unpack each round of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship from his own perspective, continuing with last weekend's betr Darwin Triple Crown.

Anton aces it

It was a great win for Anton De Pasquale, and a great win for Team 18. It’s also great for General Motors to bounce back, especially after adjustments to the Camaro.

It’s a great sign for the sport, seeing three manufacturers in the top 10. It’s a sign that the parity's now working very well. All three manufacturers have won in the last five races!

Charlie Schwerkolt bit back at Skaifey too. Charlie was very happy to bite back. That was pretty good, seeing a bit of mongrel there. It’s easy to comment from the outside looking in, but all teams are working hard to make every car fast. Team 18 did that in Darwin.

The timing is great for GM. We’re getting close to the end of the Repco Sprint Cup, which offers excitement heading into the enduros. Hopefully there’s momentum not only for Anton, but everyone in the GM camp.

Toyota's balancing act

The Toyotas obviously have some engine issues to overcome. It was a shame to see Chaz Mostert out like that.

But Walkinshaw TWG Racing is working really hard to obviously overcome that side of it. The positive out of it, is the Toyotas are fast. Yes, reliability's still an issue, but those cars are fast.

Once they get that fixed, I expect them to be very competitive in the enduros and beyond.

The right call

I think it was the right call for Brodie Kostecki and Thomas Randle to sit out Sunday’s race. Health and welfare is absolutely the priority.

Some teams always have some sort of a back-up, especially now that a lot of the co-drivers are available, and they're around at weekends.

Certainly, it was handy for DJR and Tickford to be able to put Todd Hazelwood and Mark Winterbottom in the car.

Waters vs Payne

I think the Cam Waters and Matt Payne battles were fantastic, and a real highlight of the weekend.

We’re all for door-to-door, rubbing racing. People love seeing passes, and given how close all the cars are, it’s proof that Supercars is incredibly competitive.

More of it!

Is Waters back?

Cam Waters was great. Tickford has been working very hard behind the scenes.

When Cam is on form, he’s very hard to stop. He’s good at Townsville, so that will show is whether it’s genuine.

I hope it does. When Cam's on fire, he’s super competitive, and it adds a new element to the championship.

It also shows how unpredictable this season has been. We’ve had nine different winners, and you just can't predict at the moment who's gonna be the benchmark.

Speaking of benchmark…

I think Penrite Racing is definitely doing a better job than Triple Eight.

I know the inner sanctums of Triple Eight all too well, and I know they'll be working very hard. They won’t like where they are. There’s no doubt they’ll be combing through every piece of information to rebound at Townsville.

I spent some time in the Penrite Racing garage over the weekend, and speaking to Stephen Grove, you can tell that the vibe of the team is very good. Matt and Kai Allen are working extremely well together.

I asked Stephen about team orders, or if there’s any driver preference. He bluntly said, ‘No. We work collectively as a team’. What that means, is that if there is a bit of an offset, whether it's a tyre benefit, they're somewhat in agreement that if one car's faster, they let them go.

They're not leading the teams’ championship by accident.

The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of Supercars, teams or drivers.