Super2 pathway creates history with Supercars first
Supercars pathway on full display at DUNLOP Sydney 500
All 24 drivers on the 2026 Supercars grid are Super2 graduates
Five rookies bolster the youngest ever Supercars field
The 2026 DUNLOP Sydney 500 will be historic for a number of reasons, whether it be the debut of the Toyota GR Supra, or the return of Triple Eight to Ford.
However, it's also the arrival of a brand new generation of young drivers, with this weekend marking a milestone moment for the DUNLOP Super2 Series and the Repco Supercars Championship
For the first time in the history of the Supercars Championship, all 24 main game drivers are products of the Super2 Series pathway, having competed in the category full-time on their way to the main game.
Rookies Rylan Gray, Zach Bates, Jobe Stewart, Jackson Walls, and Jayden Ojeda are all graduates from the 2025 Super2 field, and have all achieved success.
Gray and Bates are the 2025 and 2024 DUNLOP Series champions respectively, and along with Stewart and Walls have graduated straight from the second tier.
Ojeda, meanwhile, finished third in the 2021 Super2 title race, and went on to ply his trade as a Supercars enduro co-driver and a factory Mercedes-AMG GT driver, before securing his first full-time Supercars ride at 26 years old.
Seven drivers on the 2026 Supercars grid have been crowned Super2 champion, namely Gray, Bates, Kai Allen (2023), Declan Fraser (2022), Broc Feeney (2021), Thomas Randle (2020), and Cam Waters (2015).
The influx of rookies will also create more history, with the grid that is set to take on the opening race of the season the youngest-ever assembled in ATCC/Supercars history.
The 24 drivers combine for an average age of 27 years, 117 days old, smashing the previous record set by a 28-driver field at the same venue back in 2008, who had an average age of 29 years, 79 days old.
Nine drivers on the main game grid this weekend are under 25, namely Feeney, Allen, Gray, Bates, Stewart, Walls, Matt Payne, Ryan Wood, and Cooper Murray.
The next generation of stars in the DUNLOP Super2 Series also get their 2026 season underway this weekend, with a 20-car field highlighted by the debut of rising female star Alice Buckley in a privately-run Commodore with Matt Stone Racing support.
The opening race of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship begins at 7:50pm local time tomorrow night.
Fans can get free tickets for the opening day of the season thanks to DUNLOP Free Friday, with the race also being broadcast on Fox Sports and KAYO Sports.
