This is the 10th 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 AirTouch 500 at The Bend.
Driving standards
I've got to say, most of the co-drivers did a damn good job. I know there were incidents and accidents, but there were no big pile-ups or no big incidents.
We were quite fortunate that the thunderstorm actually went through prior to the start of the race. Otherwise, there was a high potential of obviously being delayed, but that wasn't the case.
For me, it was about trying to stay out of trouble. They were some of the worst conditions I've encountered for a long time.
I’m reminded of the argument of starting or not starting co-drivers at Bathurst. After Sunday, seeing how much high quality driving there was, I think that’s been put to bed.
The Safety Car restarts
I said after the race that I was surprised that the race restarted in those conditions. There’s an argument for holding off a restart for a lap or two longer.
The spray was the big thing. The contrast between the spray and the sky colour made it very challenging. It would actually just blend into one!
I remember at one point, going down the main straight and not being able to really define the race track from the sky. There could've been another lap or two behind the Safety Car.
At the end of the day, it was a judgment call. The officials made the call, and we had to get on with it.
But it was tricky. I was going down the main straight in fourth gear and aquaplaning! I was almost going from lock to lock just trying to keep the thing straight. We all understood the rain was coming.
What we didn't appreciate was the volume of water that was about to get dumped on us. We all thought it was gonna be 1 to 2mm, not 20 to 30mm!
Penalties, penalties, penalties
From what I've seen, I think that the penalties for the incidents in the race were justified.
But in saying that, in the first half to two thirds of the race, the conditions were very, very wet. It was very difficult to see around you.
A number of times, I thought there was a car on the inside, so I just had to be patient, give them racing room and try and sort it out later.
I got turned around at the start of the race, because of all the congestion. But to be honest, in the first 10 to 15 laps, we were all just trying to discover what grip level was out there.
Terrific Toyota
Toyota and Walkinshaw TWG Racing raced to a 1-3 result, but I'm not surprised.
The enduros are all about team effort. Over my career, I've won races when we've not had the fastest car. It’s a matter of having the right strategy at the right time.
For us, unfortunately, I think we could have done a little better in one of our calls. But at the end of the day, you work as a team, you win and lose as a team.
Credit to the Walkinshaw team. They did a really good job. They stayed out of trouble, the made the right calls, particularly being on the right tyre at the right time.
The standout drives
Bayley Hall, my co-driver, did a pretty good job. He took a lot from his Queensland Raceway wildcard experience. He's definitely growing in confidence.
The big part — and everyone would have the same comment — is qualifying. He was disappointed qualifying 22nd, but we were only half a second off pole! It was so close, the whole thing was pretty intense.
He's a big sponge. He's learning a lot. He’s realising that his level of motorsport is intense.
The Erebus Motorsport cars were in a strong position. A strategy call didn't quite go their way. But Jarrod Hughes was superb, I was chasing him fo part of the race and he was speedy at certain times.
Obviously Fabian Coulthard, winning with Chaz Mostert, did an incredible job for someone who doesn’t race that much these days. To be able to step into those conditions and hand the car over or back to Chaz in that position was impressive.
The time certain debate
The question about time certain returns. We fell six laps short. Selfishly, it would've been nice to go the full length and get those last five or six laps that the fans come to watch.
It caught out the Blanchard Racing Team in a big way. I was a bit surprised that a team like that would find themselves in that situation. But then in saying that, from my understanding the rule, you've got to complete that transition in the first 74% of the race.
Maybe it’s just a bit of an oversight, maybe it just caught them out because of the procedure they ran. Obviously it’s hurt Jimmy Golding and Richie Stanaway, especially Jimmy with his championship position.
I have no doubt they'll debrief like everyone else will and make sure they don't make that mistake again.
The Mountain is calling
I’m really looking forward to Bathurst.
It was nice to get back in the car and to get that race of the way and, and get familiar with Team 18. Talking with Bayley after the race, we looked at the strengths and weaknesses of what we had.
I made a couple of mistakes which didn't help, but Bayley did a great job in the sense of just keeping it on the island, looking after the tyre in those slick conditions, and making it home.
We go to Bathurst a lot more confident than what I would've said before The Bend. It was my first race with Team 18 and there are some procedural things that we're doing to debrief this week.
See you at the Mountain!
The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of Supercars, teams or drivers.
