Supercars Championship 2026: New Zealand back-to-back weekend, Tropical Cyclone Vaianu headed for Taupo, preview

This is a historic weekend for the sport as Supercars heads for back-to-back weekend’s racing in New Zealand for the first time.

Only thing right now, is dealing with New Zealand’s weather.

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Tropical Cyclone Vaianu is headed straight for Taupo – with a Sunday hit time scheduled.

That’s awful timing for Supercars, with their feature 60-lap race to be held Sunday afternoon.

These are difficult scenarios for sport to prepare for – not least for the sheer fact you can’t be willingly bringing people into a cyclone area with minimal cover that a racetrack fails to provide.

Series organisers spent Thursday holding planning meetings – asking whether they should plan around Sunday and stack their Friday schedule – or push on and hope for the best.

Friday’s opening day involved just two short practice sessions at Taupo – which allowed more running to be held – whether that was stacking qualifying sessions on Friday, or even the idea of running one of Saturday’s two races on day one.

But broadcasters are demanding – and no one is willing to give up Sunday’s ratings hit for a Friday afternoon race.

So as it stands, the Supercar schedule is staying in place.

Which is a huge gamble for the sport.

The sport is now all chips in on just hoping the weather isn’t as dire as the forecast.

Providing racing goes ahead, you will see as wild a race action as possible with heavy rain and strong winds forecast at a racetrack that has thrown up a bunch of really random results.

And remember – for the first time, all teams are required to race again next weekend at Christchurch, so any damage will test teams like never before.

BROC WATCH

Like it or not, Broc Feeney has become the story of the 2026 Supercars Championship.

Untouchable on weekend one at Sydney was a significant statement.

Demolished in Melbourne on week two in one of the biggest crashes in the sport for some time.

The wild Albert Park Sunday prang cost Feeney the championship lead, and gave his team a mountain of work repairing his Mustang for the shipment to New Zealand.

So what response comes next this weekend in a country Feeney has never posted a win.

Will there be scarring from his monster Grand Prix crash – by far the biggest of his career, or can his winning ways continue?

Feeney is hell bent on making amends for losing last year’s title on the final day of the 2025 season, and his 2026 season has begun with a wild rollercoaster ride.

It’s a similar tale for his highly credentialed teammate, Will Brown, who is dealing with the worst start to a season of his career.

The 2024 Supercar champion sits a lowly 13th in the standings, with just one top-five finish from the opening seven races of the year.

It’s unusual territory for the gun Red Bull Ampol team to have both of their drivers with doubts before a weekend of racing.

“I’ve just got to stay out all the carnage and get some solid results,” Will Brown said this week.

“We’ve got to do a better job internally – and for myself that means making less mistakes.”

But if he holds hopes of a second title – Brown’s race results simply have to be better than what he’s brought to the table this year: 7th , 15th , 18th , 8th , 21st , 21st and 2nd.

TIME IS TICKING FOR REYNOLDS

Much loved Supercar journeyman David Reynolds reaches a significant milestone this weekend – with his 500th race start.

He becomes the 13th driver in Supercar history to reach the feat – providing Sunday’s race goes ahead.

But as he hits the milestone, his future in the sport remains unclear.

He turns 41 this July – which means one-year contract extensions are something he now has to deal with – a far cry from a ten-year contract he once signed at Erebus.

For the second year he’ll be made to race for results to keep his seat at Team 18.

And even that will hang on the future of Bathurst 1000 champion Matt Payne – who continues to be linked to a bombshell move from Grove Racing to the Chevy backed Team 18.

Simply, if Payne moves, Reynolds’ seat will evaporate.

But if Payne is held to his Grove deal until the end of 2027, Reynolds is likely to be given a reprieve and a new deal for next season.

It’s only April, but the silly season is alive and well.

Which probably best sums up the Reynolds quote his team provided this week ahead of Taupo.

“Whether it’s 500 or 5,000 races you turn up, do your job, drive the car as fast as it can go, make no mistakes and enjoy it, because you don’t know how long it’s going to last,” Reynolds said this week.

CHASING BRODIE

Brodie Kostecki is the hottest star in the game right now to kick off the 2026 season.

There’s been three race wins and five podiums from seven race starts across Sydney Motorsport Park and Albert Park.

His confidence is sky high after his Grand Prix weekend – where he took the championship lead on the way to securing the Larry Perkins Trophy.

Ford Mustangs have been the standout performer, winning six of the seven races held so far this year.

Which places his Dick Johnson Racing Ford in the box seat to be the car to catch in New Zealand.

But the results Taupo has delivered in the past can be wildly unpredictable.

It’s a circuit where cars spend the lowest time at full throttle.

It’s the lowest average speed of any circuit Supercars race on.

So that makes it a free-for-all.

After claiming their maiden podium at Albert Park, could this be the weekend Toyota posts their first Supercar victory?

Fresh from new contract extensions, Walkinshaw duo Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood, will be the leading contenders.

It’s only taken two weekends for Toyota to surpass Chevrolet as the second best manufacturer in the sport.

Could this be the event where they make their play to topple Ford?

OFF TRACK ISSUES

It’s been five long weeks since Melbourne when we last saw Supercars race.

Which is a problem in itself with all momentum sucked from the sport after the opening two events of the year.

That’s part of the issue of racing in New Zealand – with ships now required to freight the cars and gear across the ditch.

But this weekend Supercars is up against the AFL’s Gather Round for a second straight year – which has become the biggest home and away weekend of the season.

The AFL will tell you Gather Round is second only to Grand Final week in terms of media and exposure for the sport – which is a significant issue for Supercars to be running against.

Ditto a small golf event taking place this weekend at Augusta.

So the sport is battling from the outset just for media coverage in its return.

That’s part of the problem when a sport pauses for five weeks between events.

But the sport’s biggest issue right now is finding a new Chief Executive, after the bombshell decision last week by James Warburton to leave the sport.

It’s an awful look for the sport for the CEO to depart so early into his reign, and so early into the new season.

Barclay Nettlefold now takes the role of CEO in addition to chairing RACE, the company who owns Supercars.

It’s not just wild weather he’s dealing with this weekend.