Seven drivers in contention: The Super2 story so far

After a hotly-contested Dunlop Super2 Series, the 2024 season finale at the VAILO Adelaide 500 sees seven drivers enter the weekend with a mathematical chance of claiming the title.

Whilst there is a good chance the Repco Supercars Championship could be decided with a race to spare on Saturday, the development series decider looks set to go right down to the last lap on Sunday afternoon.

The top three of Zach Bates, Aaron Cameron, and Kai Allen all have a highly realistic chance of winning the 2024 title, whilst Max Vidau, Jarrod Hughes, Brad Vaughan, and Jobe Stewart are all outside chances.

The last two rounds in particular have turned the title race on its head, as Bates and Cameron have capitalised on misfortune for Allen to emerge in the box seat, whilst the other four kept their hopes alive with strong performances at the Repco Bathurst 1000.

Supercars.com looks back at the Dunlop Super2 Series to date, as we gear up for a thrilling title decider on the streets of Adelaide.

Race 1: Bathurst 500

Allen got his title defence off to the perfect start in a heavily disrupted season opener at Bathurst, whist Cameron and Bates emerged as his closest rivals right from the outset to round out the podium. Hughes impressed in his maiden start to claim fifth ahead of Vaughan, and Vidau would be classified in 10th after being caught in a pile-up at The Cutting. Stewart stalled on the grid and was unable to make back any ground with less than a lap of green flag running.

Race 2: Bathurst 500

Allen doubles up to sweep the opening round of the season, whilst Bates has his first stumble of the season after a controversial collision with Cooper Murray sees the Canberran demoted to 19th with a 15-second penalty. Stewart recovers to claim a runner-up finish in his second ever Super2 start, ahead of Vaughan and Cameron, who leave the weekend third and second in points respectively. Vidau and Hughes also claim top 10 finishes to cap off their opening weekends as Super2 drivers.

Race 3: Perth

Allen completed a hat-trick of wins to start the season with another ultra-professional drive from second on the grid in the Perth opener, holding off Eggleston teammate Murray and Bates who bounces back from his Race 2 dramas in Bathurst. Cameron maintained his consistent start to the season in fifth, whilst Hughes also continued his solid start to the season with a seventh place. Any chances of a strong result for Vaughan were quashed by a starter motor failure on his Tickford Autosport Mustang, meaning he was unable to take the start from his third position on the grid.

Race 4: Perth

Bates emerged on the other side of a wild race that was punctuated by two red flags to claim his maiden race and round wins in the Dunlop Series. However, had results not been backdated a lap as per red flag rules, Vidau would have claimed his first win in just his fourth start. The big story of the race was Allen, who qualified a lowly 13th in his Coca-Cola Commodore, and was forced into a recovery drive which could've easily been derailed by Mason Kelly's dramatic engine failure (which caught out Hughes among several others), or Cameron McLeod's enormous rollover to claim eighth and maintain a healthy 60-point buffer over Cameron.

Race 5: Townsville

Once again Allen qualified poorly for the Townsville opener, and his 12th place start saw him right in the firing line of the opening lap drama on the run to turn three. Of the title contenders, Vaughan and Bates copped the worst of it, with the South Aussie out on the spot and the Walkinshaw Andretti United young gun soldiering on to 17th with a heavily wounded Commodore. Cameron and Vidau both claimed podiums, promoting the latter to third in the standings, whilst Allen finished a superb fifth to minimise the damage in more ways than one.

Race 6: Townsville

Allen's qualifying slump was ended with a front row start on Sunday in Townsville, which he promptly converted into what at the time appeared to be a decisive victory in the title race. An opportunity for a second race win in as many rounds for Bates A disappointing 12th for Cameron saw Allen's lead blow out to 114 points, whilst Bates leapt back into third following another podium finish. Rookies Vidau and Hughes claimed another top 10 finish each as they continued their tussle for rookie honours.

Race 7: Sandown

The lead three title contenders all had unspectacular Saturdays in Sandown, with another podium for Bates allowing him to move back within a race's worth of points of Allen, who followed him home in fourth. Stewart claimed his first podium finish since the season opener at Bathurst, whilst another solid top five finish for Cameron keeps him well within reach.

Race 8: Sandown

Vaughan's season got back on track with a long-awaited maiden Dunlop Series win, whilst Bates' sixth podium in eight races saw him claim his second round win of the season and also jump into second in the standings. Another disappointing qualifying run for Allen sees him wind up fifth, although he still pulled away from Cameron, who slipped to third in the standings after finishing eighth. Hughes' maiden Dunlop Series pole turns into a mistake-riddled race that started with a poor start before making another key mistake that dropped him back to 11th.

Race 9: Bathurst 1000

As always, the Bathurst 1000 weekend provided plenty of drama in the Dunlop Series, and series leader Allen was not immune, suffering a major crash in Friday qualifying. Though his Commodore would be repaired, it would immediately drop to seven cylinders in the race, forcing a finish of a lapped 14th. However, Bates and Cameron couldn't totally capitalise on Allen's misfortune. A tyre puncture in qualifying saw Bates start 12th, and pull off a sterling recovery drive to finish fifth. Cameron looked set to make big inroads with a runner-up finish before suffering a power steering failure with a handful of laps to go. Jobe Stewart claimed his first Super2 win ahead of Vidau, and with Hughes in fourth all three made up big ground on Allen's lead.

Race 10: Bathurst 1000

Race 10 at Mount Panorama could prove to be the most important race of the season, with Saturday at Mount Panorama completely flipping the standings at the top of the order. A power steering failure sent Allen into his second heavy crash of the weekend on lap two, recording his first ever DNF in Super2 in the process. Allen's non score was a free kick for Bates and Cameron, who duly capitalised, with the latter taking a crushing win in a first for both himself and Kelly Racing. A fourth for Bates saw him vault into the series lead, with Cameron trailing by 39 points and Allen 42 back with 300 on offer in Adelaide. Sixth for Vidau has also seen the Anderson Motorsport driver close to 150 points from the lead as the first of the outside chances. Second for Vaughan also rocketed the Tickford prospect into outside contention, having gained closed the gap to the lead by 174 points in the last three races.

2024 points progression