This is the ninth 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 Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440.
Ipswich proved that you should never, ever give up.
Championships are all built on consistency. Even though Broc Feeney admitted himself that he hasn’t had the fastest car this year, the consistency is what's paid off for him.
Matt Payne’s engine issue was one thing, but you can’t forget that Broc basically had to win the race to get the job done — and he did that. What a story it was.
My message for Matt Payne
It's motor racing. You have to take the highs and lows. We ultimately talk more about the lows than we do the highs, because there's more of them.
Matt's had a dominant year. He’s repeatedly said that he's in a good space with the team, despite all that’s gone on behind the scenes. I have no doubt they'll bounce back.
What happened on Sunday highlights for every team that you can't stop your preparation. The Groves will now double down and make sure every nut and bolt in both of their cars are ready to go for the enduros. What I can guarantee, though, is that they're probably happier it happened on Sunday in Ipswich, rather than Sunday in Adelaide.
An interesting takeaway is that there were a number of engines over the weekend that had cam timing issues, across Ford and Toyota.
Perhaps we're starting to see more reliability questions emerge. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but these are the questions that teams and engine builders need to find the answers to. It is worth noting that teams are all still learning about these cars.
Where there’s a Will, there’s a way
An enormous weekend for Will Brown. Enormous.
It would have taken a massive weight off his shoulders. He had a lot of pressure on him to perform. In my last column, I detailed just that, and what he could have been facing.
Triple Eight gave him the equipment that he asked for. They changed the car, they installed the correct restrictor. Will had all the ingredients to do the job, and he delivered in spades.
It’s big not only for Will, but for his family. His Dad was in tears after he won. You saw the relief on Saturday, and the elation on Sunday when he got pole.
Going into the enduros and Finals, the timing couldn’t be better for him. As a driver, you thrive on confidence, so when you're down — and as low as Will probably sounds like was — you need to bounce back.
So, can Brown fight for the title?
He’ll be heading into the enduros absolutely high on adrenaline, and looking for bigger and better things. Can he fight for a championship this year? Well, it comes down to now making his way into the final four. He's still more than 200 points away.
So many others have the potential to make it. Broc and Matt are in, and Cam Waters is fast. Perhaps Brodie Kostecki was overlooked on the weekend. You can never underestimate what Brodie can do, and also what his team is capable of.
This championship is wide open. Matt and Kai Allen have been very quick, Kostecki is quick, and now both Triple Eight drivers are there. We also haven’t seen the best of Walkinshaw TWG Racing yet.
This will absolutely go down to the wire, and at this stage, especially after what happened on Sunday, it’s hard to pick an outright favourite right now.
Wildcards learning
Ipswich was a bit of a learning curve for all of the wildcards. Aaron Seton has now done a number of races, so he’s gathering crucial intel. Ben Gomersall has been busy, and Bayley Hall has raced everything around the world this year.
All three of them are very credentialed in a lot of different ways, but making the leap to the main game puts you on a massive learning curve.
The biggest thing that resonated with me, was Bayley explaining how he now has to get used to having an entire race of battles. That’s hard to manage. He explained that in other categories, it settles down after four or five laps. That’s not the case in Supercars.
From lights out to the chequered flag, you’re battling all the way. These drivers will all be better for the weekend.
Shifting gear for the enduros
How do you shift your mentality from trying to win sprint races, to trying to win enduros?
Drivers positioned fifth onwards, they've got nothing to lose. If you have a great couple of rounds in enduros and make the Finals, it sets your year up anyway. So I think there's some drivers that'll have the mentality that it’s win or bust in some regards, because they've got nothing to lose.
Other drivers, like Broc or Matt, they’ve still got the championship in the back of their minds.
For me personally, in the wildcard, I want to give Bayley the best opportunity for him to perform so we can get another great top 10. Each year, the wildcard's been growing stronger and stronger.
There'll be different mindsets up and down the field. Watch this space!
The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of Supercars, teams or drivers.
