The 40 words that captured Supercars' future
Richard Craill announced as Supercars' full-time commentator
Long-time Bathurst 12 Hour caller blooded at NZ Double Header
Craill's call synonymous with Mostert/Kostecki clash in Christchurch
Richard Craill needed only 40 words to show a glimpse of what Supercars fans can look forward to — and boy, did he make them count.
Known to many as 'Craillsy,' he has voiced the likes of the Bathurst 12 Hour, Australian Grand Prix, Shannons Speedseries, New Zealand’s Repco NextGen Championship, and more.
A regular in support race commentary on Supercars broadcasts, he took the reins as Supercars' play-by-play lead at the ITM New Zealand Double Header in Taupō and Christchurch earlier this year.
There, Craill was armed with calling arguably the moment of the season so far: that dramatic clash between Chaz Mostert and Brodie Kostecki in the Christchurch finale.
“The amount of times that moment has been replayed is crazy,” Craill told Supercars.com.
"But then I get it, because I'm a guy that can sit on the couch and watch Bathurst 2007 and recite word for word what Neil and Matty White said when Frosty dropped it at The Chase.”
True to form, Craill nailed the entire call. “Huge, huge, huge moment,“ he beamed, echoing Crompton’s iconic commentary.
In a short sequence, Craill captured the chaos of the moment: "Side by side, trading paint! Mostert drives him off the road, Kostecki’s going to spear in front of the field! He gathers it up, oh they take evasive action! Mostert goes through, Kostecki in the middle of a dust storm."
Each viewing of the incident takes you to a new place. The hairs stand up, the tension is felt, and you're breathless as Kostecki slides towards the rest of the field. Anything could have happened. Yet, Craill and Garth Tander called it how we all felt it.
“Honestly, you can't plan that stuff. Certainly, you’ve got to hope that what you're saying is right," Craill said.
“The bit I loved most about that moment when I listened to it back was Garth in the background going, ‘Uh oh’. If you're sitting at the pub watching that, that is exactly what you're thinking, aside from swearing!
"You can plan a bit about what you're gonna say when someone wins or the start of a race, but that was pure reaction. I don't know how else to explain it.”
If Craill isn’t at the track, he’s watching racing. Formula 1, MotoGP, BTCC — you name it, he watches it, and loves it.
It's a win for Supercars fans, then, that Craill and Tander — perhaps an odd couple for some — have been charged with bringing Supercars to your TV screens, given how much they love the sport, and how well they work together.
Crucially, they already had many runs on the board before New Zealand, given Craill and Tander have called every Bathurst 12 Hour together since 2022.
“When you spend 12 hours in a box with someone for an entire day, you pretty quickly work out how the flow is,” Craill said.
“For Garth and I, doing the 12 Hour has been massive. We’ve known each other for a very long time, from when I was a kid working on F3 and he was a team owner running cars.
“We’ve called five 12 Hours together. With GT, it's always been really, really seamless. But I think people forget, that Garth is a race fan, and he's as passionate about it as anybody. He loves it, loves the moments and the story.
“We're both reacting to it the same way as just blokes who just love it. We just want to see awesome motorsport and big moments, and react to that in the way that we do it.
"And if that's me bouncing off the limiter and Garth then explaining why, then that's the way it works.”
Craill maintains he’s not there to unpack the intricacies of understeer, explain fuel couplings, or unpack the finer details of suspension. That's the job for Tander and co.
What he wants, however, is to let the likes of Tander, James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom thrive — that is, call the action, but feed into his own curiosity alongside questions viewers at home will have.
"I genuinely, as a fan, want to know what those two blokes think because they've done it and lived it,” Craill said of working with the drivers.
"So me trying to get them to explain it and articulate it is my job. If we did anything real well in New Zealand, it's engaging both of them, and especially James, who's new to the comm box.
“I want to get the most out of them and let them have their space to be the champion race car drivers that they are."
The 2026 Supercars season resumes at the NTI Townsville 500 on July 10-12.
