Craig’s Corner: What next for Kostecki, Mostert silences critics, Ford team tension

This is the fifth 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 Tyrepower Tasmania Super 440.

Super Supras

The performance of the Toyotas really caught my eye. Two wins in as many starts on Saturday raised plenty of eyebrows, including mine.

Toyota's early performance this year has really surprised a lot of people. Three wins in the first five rounds is a big return, and that’s across two teams and three drivers, too.

Whenever you've got a brand new manufacturer come into a sport as competitive as Supercars, you’d suspect it'd take a good sort of six to eight months to get their head around it, and start making their way forward.

Mostert bounces back

How important could this win for Chaz Mostert be once we get to Finals time? He was scraping around the top 10, and was even out of it heading into the weekend.

As a driver, you know you're only as good as your last race. So to bounce back the way he did is a credit to his mental strength, but also his ability to turn a negative into a positive.

The best way to silence doubters is to come out, get pole, and dominate the race. He did all of that in one go. For all the noise about what went down in New Zealand, Chaz delivered.

Heimgartner breaks through

Andre Heimgartner is a fast driver. He just needs the equipment to do the job. He got pole position, which is great but you need to make a statement in the race.

I wasn’t surprised that he got his elbows out at the beginning of the race, defending his position. Once he got that gap, he could dictate proceedings by driving to a lap time and looking after his car.

It was a masterclass. He defended well at the beginning of the race, got himself in the right position, and it allowed Brad Jones Racing to race to a winning strategy.

It must be said, BJR’s pit stops are incredible. I think a lot of people underestimate BJR in pit lane. Their commitment and their ability to do fast pit stops is quite incredible.

A tough weekend for DJR

I think it's very easy for teams to spiral down once things start to build up. Unfortunately DJR did that over Sunday's race.

They made some errors, which I think were uncharacteristic for them. A recent strength of DJR is that they've generally bounced back and had a strong Sunday. They needed that after Brodie got hit on Saturday.

But this time around, the errors carried over from Saturday. The fuel issues in the Sunday's race really hurt them. That puts the driver under extra pressure by trying to fuel save, trying to look after the tyre, but also trying to produce the same lap time. It’s stressful.

You could start to hear that in Brodie's voice. I think that frustration started to come out, and the mistakes continued to snowball.

I have no doubt that they'll go home, they'll hit the reset button, analyse everything, and come out in Darwin punching.

So, how does Kostecki bounce back?

Brodie was driving pretty well. He got provisional pole on Sunday morning. Through all this frustration, you’ve got to get through it and do the best you can.

There is probably extra pressure on Brodie being the lead driver. His teammate Rylan Gray is still a rookie. It’s a different situation for a Red Bull Ampol Racing, for example.

With two high performing drivers, you've got two lead drivers pushing each other very hard, and you can then lean on each other's set-ups. You develop and learn faster.

Realistically, Brodie’s somewhat a bit of a sole operator. Not taking anything away from Rylan, but he's still learning. Rylan will be a sponge. He'll be leaning on Brodie to understand and fast-track his knowledge.

But at the moment, Brodie’s the lone ranger pushing Shell V-Power Racing to the front. He needs a reset, but importantly, he must believe in the performance the team had at the start of the season.

Team 18 returns to form

Anton De Pasquale getting his elbows out with Will Brown was great to watch. He had confidence in the car, as did David Reynolds. The key was that Team 18 made a big step forward.

Whether it's the adjustment to the Camaro, who knows, But Team 18 rolled the car out of the transporter strongly, and they sustained that speed throughout.

You hope that when the car is 90% right, you’ve got to make the most of it and build on it. Crucially, the confidence that both Anton and Dave had, even in the early stages of the races, was fantastic.

You saw them just go from strength to strength over the course of the weekend, knowing that they had a car that they could drive the way they wanted to.

Reynolds on the podium

Dave drove smart to get that podium, his first of the season. He backed Brodie into a pack and utilised the gap, especially in that late part of the race. He looked after the tyre, and didn’t make any mistakes.

It was a pressure cooker environment, and Dave didn’t falter. It was a commendable drive. The pressure he's under to perform, whether it's for his seat or for his pride, is immense. He worked hard for it, and deserved it.

Heavyweight bout

It seems like there's a genuine rivalry growing between Triple Eight and Penrite Racing. They're the two best performing teams.

I think this rivalry is going to continue to grow throughout the year. Both teams have fast cars at the front, so you're battling them week in, week out.

Matt Payne and Kai Allen are a formidable combination. They've won races, they’re fast, they’re on the podium more often than not. Broc Feeney is superb, while Will Brown continues to go from strength to strength.

We talk about the on-track rivalry, but it extends to the garages too. Both bosses have said each other is the best team, which is interesting.

When you're pitted next door to each other, you’re keeping an eye on what your rivals are doing with strategy, so you try to out-strategise them in every facet of the race weekend.

I can’t wait to see who lands the next blow!

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