Four big predictions for the 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series

For the first time in 2025, it's race week in the Repco Supercars Championship, and that means it's also race week for the Dunlop Super2 Series.

We've made our predictions for the 2025 Supercars season, but the development series also returns for its 25th anniversary season, with a field of 23 cars and drivers set to contest the full season.

The reigning champion returns in a new setting, but there will be plenty of drivers eager to prove themselves as the next big thing in the Supercars paddock.

A revamped calendar sees half of the schedule change year-on-year, which could also throw some unexpected curveballs and results into the mix, making 2025 as unpredictable as ever.

Ahead of the opening round at the Thrifty Sydney 500, here are four predictions for the 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series.

Bates to go back-to-back

It hasn't been done in 25 seasons of the Supercars development series, but in 2025 Zach Bates could very well be the favourite heading into the Dunlop Super2 Series.

Entering his third season in Super2, Bates swaps from his successful partnership with Walkinshaw Andretti United to Eggleston Motorsport, courtesy of his deal to run in the Triple Eight wildcard program.

It was a breakout campaign for the 20-year-old in 2024, claiming his first race and round wins at Perth, first pole in Townsville, another round win at Sandown, and then sealing the title with a third round win and victory in the final race of the season in Adelaide.

Pairing up with the 2024 Super2 Teams' Champions makes for something of a Super2 all-star line-up, and Eggleston's 2024 season with Kai Allen should leave them well placed to give Bates every opportunity to succeed.

Allen looked almost certain to become the first driver to claim back-to-back titles, however a mid-season slump stemming from qualifying woes saw him finish behind both Bates and Aaron Cameron.

With the benchmark driver joining the benchmark team, it's going to be a daunting marker to beat for the rest of the Dunlop Super2 Series field in 2025.

More race winners than last year

2024 proved to be a remarkably competitive Super2 season, with six drivers claiming wins across the 12 race season, and seven drivers entering the final round in mathematical contention for the championship.

Kai Allen, Zach Bates, Jack Perkins, Brad Vaughan, Jobe Stewart, and Aaron Cameron all won races in 2024, with each of those drivers representing six different teams.

Of those six drivers, Bates, Vaughan, and Stewart all return to the category, whilst Stewart's Image Racing/Erebus Academy stablemate Jarrod Hughes also firms as a potential race winner this year.

2023 Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner Cameron McLeod will be looking to rediscover some of his blistering form from two years ago at a new ride, whilst any of Tickford's four entries could prove to be winners this year.

Throw in a bumper crop of exciting rookies and the 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series is shaping up to potentially be even more wide open and unpredictable than the epic 2024 campaign.

At least three rookies win races

The nine-strong rookie class of the 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series features several drivers who could claim victory at any point this season.

Headlining the rookie crop is reigning Super3 champion Cody Burcher, who swaps an MW Motorsport Nissan for an Eggleston Commodore, a known package that can easily be right up the front from the start.

Former Porsche Carrera Cup frontrunner Jackson Walls transitions into the Supercars pathway and will be one of two rookies teaming up for Triple Eight's return to the development series.

Fellow Porsche star Ayrton Hodson could be something of a wildcard at an expanded Anderson Motorsport, the Kiwi stepping up after an impressive Sprint Challenge season in 2024.

Hodson has also been winning races in his homeland over summer in a GT4 Toyota Supra, and is also a sprintcar star in New Zealand speedway.

Former TCR and Toyota 86 ace Bailey Sweeny joins Blanchard Racing Team for a full-time campaign, and is at the helm of a chassis that has won races in the past two Super2 seasons.

The ever-popular Toyota GR Cup has produced five rookies in 2025, namely Max Geoghegan (Image), Bradi Owen (Eggleston), Ben Gomersall (Triple Eight), Matt Hillyer (WAU), and Ryan Tomsett (Anderson).

McLeod to rebound on return to Kelly Racing

Having been the fastest driver in the 2023 Super3 Series, a lot of people looked to Cameron McLeod as a potential breakout star in a PremiAir-supported Commodore last year.

Despite scoring two podiums, McLeod's season was tempered by some poor results and getting involved in big accidents at both Townsville, and his infamous roll down the back straight in Perth.

With PremiAir stepping away on Super2 with an eye on running a Supercars wildcard, McLeod jumps across the manufacturer divide and will be at the helm of a Mustang for Kelly Racing in 2025.

It's back to the future for the 20-year-old Queenslander, who drove a Kelly Racing Nissan in his ultra-speedy Super3 season.

Aaron Cameron's charge to a runner-up finish in last year's Super2 Series for the Kelly's has given McLeod all the confidence that he can challenge for a development series title this year.

Whilst Cameron's engineer Daniel Veronese moves on to the main game with Blanchard Racing Team, McLeod resumes a successful partnership with veteran engineer Wally Storey.

The pair united at the final round in Adelaide last year, with McLeod claiming a podium in the Saturday race, which vaulted McLeod to 11th in the final standings.

With a strong car and a strong engineer, everything is in place for Cameron McLeod to rediscover his best form across the 2025 season.

Tickets for the season-opening round in Sydney, on February 21-23, are on sale now.