Three burning questions after manic start to 2026 Supercars season

The first statements have been made in the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship.

Some have had far better starts to the new year than others, as a new-look grid gets up to speed with new cars, drivers, and personnel.

The opening fortnight of the season has left us with a fascinating championship order, with Brodie Kostecki leading the drivers' standings off the back of a thumping Melbourne SuperSprint, and Tickford leading the teams' standings following a consistent start to the season.

Perhaps more importantly, we've seen some of the key pre-season questions be answered, perhaps most pertinent of which being the immediate competitiveness shown by Toyota.

However, whilst some questions have been answered, others are now popping up. The next batch of questions could have big ramifications on the remainder of the season to come.

How do wild opening rounds set the tone for season ahead?

Supercars' annual performance on the world stage was once again an absolutely manic affair. Incidents, accidents, and a plethora of character references later, and the championship has been jumbled up, cars have been patched up, and they're already packed in containers that will be bound for New Zealand in coming days.

Taupō is still another three weeks away, and as Albert Park showed, long waits in Supercars are usually followed by absolute bedlam. Last year's Taupō event was highlighted by two vigorous battles for the lead, with Brodie Kostecki and Chaz Mostert duking it out on Saturday, before local hero Matt Payne muscled his way by Cameron Hill for the win on Sunday.

Whilst most scores appeared to be settled following the final race of the weekend in Melbourne, it could be worth keeping an eye on a few who were fired up after being on the wrong end of the AGP chaos. Matt Payne wasn't afraid to call out driving standards after being squeezed into the wall by James Golding in Race 6, whilst Zach Bates was equally upset at Cameron Hill following Race 5, with those tensions dating back to Ipswich last year.

We didn't see hostilities resume between Broc Feeney and Ryan Wood in Melbourne, though we did get a brief preview of what could possibly come later in the year back in Sydney. Then we've seen how robust Kostecki has been this year, which has resulted in outcomes both good and bad.

The gloves are off this year, and with two bullrings coming up in Taupō and Ruapuna, there could be plenty more ill feeling when we go racing in Australia again.

Was Chevrolet's winning start a false dawn?

Anton De Pasquale's winning start as Team Chevy's spearhead in Sydney was the perfect response to those who were critical that GM would remain a competitive force in 2026.

However, Melbourne was a very different story, as for the first time ever GM went without a podium at Albert Park, dating all the way back to the first non-championship event in 1996.

Whilst there were Camaros that showed reasonable speed, namely Jack Le Brocq, Anton De Pasquale, and Cooper Murray, the best a Camaro could manage was fourth in the finale for Le Brocq.

Luck was also against several of Chevrolet's contingent, with Murray and Zach Bates swept up into all manner of incidents through the weekend, whilst David Reynolds also became an unwilling victim of Sunday's Turn 1 pile-up.

Taupō represents an interesting proposition for Chevrolet, who had mixed results there 12 months ago. De Pasquale secured a front row start for the finale, and was almost a podium finisher in the opener, whilst Cameron Hill capped off a solid weekend for Matt Stone Racing with a Sunday podium. 2024 was a clean sweep, thanks to the efforts of Andre Heimgartner and Will Brown.

The latter three drivers all return driving for different manufacturers this year, leaving Le Brocq as Chevrolet's best performing driver at Taupō, with an average finish of 9.0 in five starts, and a best finish of fifth in the first race of 2024.

All four Chevrolet teams have shown flashes of promise at Taupō, however whether they can convert it into turning the tide against a rampant Ford remains to be seen.

Can anyone else establish Waters-like consistency?

One thing has become apparent in this year's Repco Supercars Championship, inconsistency has been consistent.

Save for Cam Waters' quietly impressive run to second in points, everyone has had some form of drama impact their championship standing. Brodie Kostecki dominated Melbourne, but was twice penalised in Sydney. Broc Feeney has won three races, but recorded his first DNF since 2022 in the last race. Matt Payne's five race run of top fours was scuppered by a DNF and a puncture in the final two Melbourne races. Will Brown had a torrid time of it right up until the most recent Melbourne race, which could represent the turning point of his young season.

Of course, the caveat to all of this is what approaches teams are taking into the season in the wake of Walkinshaw's epic Finals raid in 2025. That saw Mostert in particular have a quiet start to his season as he worked towards building a toolkit for the three Finals venues, with teammate Ryan Wood often the faster of the two.

Last year we saw Tickford fail to fire a shot outside of Waters' Sydney smackdown, whilst this year he hasn't fired a shot in anger, yet finds himself just 28 points away from the points lead.

Then there's other silent assassins like Le Brocq, who finds himself quite comfortably inside the Finals bubble off the back of a hot run of top 10s. Then there's Kai Allen, who despite struggling in qualifying trim has been electrifying in races.

There's several drivers who could emerge as big players this season if they can just get on top of one or two weaknesses.

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