New year, new eras: What we're excited for in 2025
Where do you start, when looking at 2025?
New formats. New tyres. New drivers. New driver-team combinations. New tracks. More races. And, throw in an all-new elimination-style Finals system to determine the champion.
The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship is going to be one to remember, and there will be so many reasons why. So, it was hard to narrow it down to six!
The Finals
The all-new Finals Series will determine the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship winner and feature a new elimination-style format.
Throughout the Finals, the final three rounds of the season, points will reset between each round, ensuring that every race is critical for the title contenders.
The highest point scorer at the end of the Adelaide Grand Final will be crowned the 2025 Repco Supercars Champion.
Radical new formats
There will be more on-track action through a mixture of sprints, traditional race distances and challenging endurance events, before the Finals Series will be used over the final three rounds of the year.
There has been a reduction in testing and at-event practice and there will be 34 races, up from 24 in 2024.
Additionally, different tyre compounds will be used for each Saturday sprint race and its respective qualifying session at most sprint rounds, as well as two rounds in the Finals, adding even more complexity for teams.
New tyres to take racing to new level
After a rigorous testing programme in 2024, across multiple circuits, cars and drivers, Dunlop is bringing brand-new Soft and Super Soft constructions for 2025. The previous Hard and Soft tyre will no longer be in use, and in their place comes more durable compounds that are set to spice up the racing action, rather than overheat or degrade quickly.
As mentioned, adding to the complexity, both compounds of tyres will be used on the Saturday of all Super440 events, with each race and corresponding qualifying session to be held on different compounds. Additionally, both races at the Finals rounds on the Gold Coast and at Sandown will be split between compounds, with Saturday running on the Super Soft, and Sunday on the Soft.
The Soft tyre will be the sole compound eligible for Sunday's 200km race at Taupo, Perth, Darwin, and Ipswich, and will also be used for all races at Sydney, Melbourne, Townsville, The Bend, Bathurst, and Adelaide. The Super Soft, meanwhile, will be used for Sunday running at the Tasmania Super440.
The Dunlop Wet tyre remains the same construction as is being used last season.
Ipswich is back
After a five-year absence, Queensland Raceway makes its triumphant return. 'The Paperclip' will host Supercars and Dunlop Series in 2025, and returns to Supercars competition for the first time since 2019.
Since the last round, the venue underwent a transformation after being taken over by motorsport businessman Tony Quinn in late 2021, and has never looked better ahead of a Supercars round.
Friday races
Friday racing will bring a new spectacle to the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship, with four rounds to feature a sprint on Friday.
For the first time, Sydney, Townsville and Adelaide will stage a race on the Friday of the event, with the Grand Prix also returning with Thursday and Friday races. That's five races on a weekday!
The potential of DJR's rebuild
After years scrapping for wins and podiums, which came after a dominant period under Penske ownership, Dick Johnson Racing is swinging the changes in a bid to return to the front.
Brodie Kostecki arrives from Erebus Motorsport, with engineers George Commins and Tom Moore following him. The team is also set to run Erebus-built chassis, proving DJR is putting pride aside to win at any costs.
Tickets to the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship opener in Sydney are on sale now.
