Larko casts 2022 Supercars predictions

Who has the most at stake in the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship? Who will surprise? And who will be crowned champion?

The new season is just a month away, and it will commence under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park.

There has been so much change, with few teams entering 2022 with the same driver line-up than last year.

Supercars technical expert and pit lane guru Mark ‘Larko’ Larkham spills the beans on what storylines he will be watching in Sydney and beyond.

A new era for Red Bull Ampol Racing

Mark Larkham: There is no more massive change in pit lane this year than Roland Dane selling his remaining shares in Triple Eight.

Roland has played a significant role in the team’s success since the beginning.

I’ve been in a privileged position and have been for over a decade now, going in and out of all the team’s garages and seeing why teams win and why teams don't win.

The thing that always goes right at the top of my list is the leadership of people in key roles.

I hope everyone understands what a big set of shoes it is to fill with Roland departing Triple Eight.

I am going to be fascinated to be walking into that garage this season and not having really in-depth discussions with Roland, but with Jamie [Whincup] who's a completely different animal.

Can Jamie Whincup be a team leader?

ML: Jamie is our greatest ever. He's been that because of his incredible self-determination and his no-compromise attitude.

It’s his win-or-bust attitude that makes Jamie what he is. It's what makes a lot of sportspeople what they are; they're in it for them to achieve and nothing gets in their way.

No one can tell them [athletes] what to do or how to do it, and that is brilliant. That's why he's achieved, coupled with his talent, what he's achieved.

But now he's going to flip the switch to a totally different guy for the driver who ignored his team at Sydney Motorsport Park last year, to be a team leader.

Now he's got to be a leader of his troops. He's got to be a great communicator. He got to be a politician. He's got to be a psychologist and a mate for his people.

He's got exercise commercial savvy, deals with sponsors, the team, and technicalities.

Can Jamie be that leader? Time will give us the answer, and we all want him to succeed, but I watch with great interest and fascination how it will play out in 2022.

Will Shane van Gisbergen dominate in 2022?

ML: Shane is just brilliant to watch, I love him as a driver.

Shane’s era got disrupted by the Scott McLaughlin factor, but it bounced back bigger and better than ever in 2021. Now I wonder if it's going to be disrupted again.

I think the staff changes and the ownership changes at Triple Eight are going to be a real test of the true depth of this team.

They not only have their team principal and owner departing, but also key members of their engineering team, David Cauchi and Wes McDougall.

There are good guys coming in, Andrew Edwards and Martin Short, and what is really great for the team is engineering manager Jeremy Moore and team manager Mark Dutton.

Is that going to disrupt SVG’s momentum? Because let's not forget, right at the centre of every motorsport business is the engineering of the race car.

You don’t get it right, you’re out of the window and the day is over.

New-look Grove Racing

ML: Lee Holdsworth is a very sensible appointment. You need maturity in the team to stablise the performance component of the team.

Lee was out in the wilderness for a year, he deserves to be in the main game, and I don't think he's going to waste this opportunity.

The new ownership of the team will probably create a new culture as well, so this could be a really good thing.

I think the signs like appointing a Holdsworth and then going and getting a David Cauchi as team principal show these guys are getting a great group of people around them.

What Cauchi brings from Triple Eight is understanding what it takes to win.

I love when guys like Cauchi learn at places like Triple Eight, and then go to the outside world and take on a challenge and flourish.

I’ll be watching with great interest to see how Grove’s evolution develops throughout the season.

Is WAU a teams' championship contender?

ML: I'm really enjoying and now more than ever, the increasing resurgence of Walkinshaw Andretti United. This is exciting.

I’ve really enjoyed watching Ryan Walkinshaw grow into his role; he has a sharper and stronger view of the sport and matters around his team.

I'll be honest and say the culture in that team a few years back just wasn't great, but now they have Chaz Mostert in there, and now the recruitment of Nick Percat.

But more than everything, they have found something with that car.

What that car did at Bathurst... it wasn't just the drivers, pit stops, and strategy; the car was fabulous, both in a straight line and around corners.

I was watching in amazement, the way the thing turned and put the power down at Turn 1, and every time after a restart, it just took off.

I will be watching in great anticipation for the Chaz and Nick show in 2022.

Is this Anton De Pasquale’s time?

ML: This just adds to the excitement of the whole year. I think Anton is a danger to every competitor in the field.

He’s still young, he’s come here with great expectations, and he’s shown great speed since he parked himself in that car.

He recorded 11 poles and six race wins in 2021. He’s shown us he's the fastest guy over one lap. That's without question, that guy is brilliantly talented.

The bulk of his wins came at the back end of the year. It's almost like mid-year a switch flicked, but he’s been unlucky.

Anton has proven he knows how to win now. Is this going to be his time to come out of the box early in the year and make his claim right from the outset?

It must have been wonderful news to De Pasquale that he was going straight back to Sydney Motorsport Park.

If he is ever going to put a stake in the ground, Anton, now is your time, mate.

You know your car, you know your engineer, you’re great at this racetrack, this is his time to shine.

Which rookie will impress?

ML: I don't think there's been a time, certainly in my time, where there's been such a wave of genuine talent coming into the sport.

Broc Feeney, there are a lot of expectations for him, but you've got to give him time.

All the young guys have demonstrated, by putting the runs on the board on the way up, they've got the capability to do the job.

The Erebus boys, Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki, Thomas Randle and Jake Kostecki at Tickford Racing.

Are we starting to see a real changing of the guard? These guys have driven everything on the way up and equipped themselves with the tools.

We’ve seen the signs with Brown in Sydney, those guys did some really mature stuff on the track under pressure that was well beyond the years.

That's the stuff you need to succeed in the game, and it doesn’t happen overnight.

Broc is going to have to do a lot of learning, but I've got no doubt he's going to be really good.

Gen3 testing and development

ML: This is really the development year to go out and put miles on the cars, or to try some different things.

We need to see what they do in terms of the aerodynamic development of the cars and how close can we actually race them.

Once we get to them on the track together, what are they like? Can we really see 30 per cent of our current downforce levels? I know we are very close to it.

What's it going to do when we start endurance running?

There are so many things to learn, but it’s just exciting to see them as they take them to different tracks, to see them and hear them perform so well.

I can't wait to get to 2023, it can’t come fast enough.

Catch Larko and the broadcast team when the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship kicks off with the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight. CLICK HERE to purchase your tickets.