Rivalry reignites, wild racing, new format: Taupō storylines to watch

After a four-week break, the Repco Supercars Championship bursts back to life with a blockbuster round in New Zealand.

The highly anticipated ITM Taupō Super 400 looms as a critical juncture in this year's championship, with the points lead changing heads at the last round in Melbourne.

However, where the Grand Prix was all-out war across sprint races with no pit stops, it all changes again with the debut of a new format in New Zealand.

There will be two vastly different days of action, from two sprints with different tyres, to a strategic 200km race. All told, the best driver on the day will be best placed to take home the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.

However, drivers and teams will have plenty to contend with before they even starting thinking about overall honours.

Introducing the Super 440

Taupō will be the first circuit to host a Super 440 event in Supercars history, with the radical format making its debut in New Zealand. What is 'Super 440'? Simply, the combined length of the three races; two 120km races, and one 200km race. However, adding to the complexity, the Saturday sprint races at Super 440 events will be split between the new-for-2025 Dunlop Soft tyre and Dunlop Super Soft tyre. It's going to be a headache for teams, and there will be big changes in the order session to session. Don't be surprised if we see some surprise results.

Upping the on-track ante

After an action-packed opening round in Sydney, the racing went to another level in Melbourne, where there were incidents galore. Amid questions over racing rules, drivers haven't been afraid to take risks and rough up their rivals. Taupō is a slower circuit than Albert Park, but there's plenty of opportunity for door-to-door banging and bumping. Notably, Turn 1 and Turn 11 encourage divebombing, but as we saw last year, it can go wrong pretty quickly. Crucially, last year had two 200km refuelling races. This year, Saturday has two sprints, and drivers will be desperate to make their moves stick.

What next in Triple Eight versus Tickford?

The fuse was lit between the top two teams in Sydney, when Cam Waters, Broc Feeney and Will Brown got into each other fighting for victory. Waters didn't back down, but neither did Feeney and Brown. Waters got his elbows out to salvage points in Melbourne, on a weekend Brown and Feeney were at the front. If both teams trend towards each other in New Zealand, don't be surprised if more drama follows.

Which team/s will be next to go through a big swing?

Matt Stone Racing was a shock last in the standings in Sydney. Three weeks later, MSR won a race, had a driver on the podium in every race, and was only topped by Triple Eight. The tables turned on Tickford Racing, which dominated Sydney and floundered in Melbourne. Teams will be anxiously waiting to hit the track and see what they've got in Taupō, and even if they find speed, it could all come undone as they bolt on a different tyre midway through Saturday.

Who will be top Kiwi?

The likes of Jim Richards, Greg Murphy, Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen all walked so the next generations of Kiwi races could run in Supercars. Already, Andre Heimgartner and Matt Payne are multi-race winners, Richie Stanaway is a Bathurst champion, and Ryan Wood and Jaxon Evans are both climbing the order. Only van Gisbergen and McLaughlin have won the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, and each of the aforementioned five are desperate to be the next. Stanaway needs it to kickstart his spluttering season, Heimgartner and Payne are chasing redemption after last year, and Wood and Evans are keen to break through.

Looking to the skies

We can't race in New Zealand and not talk about the weather. It reared its head last year on Saturday, with rain lashing the circuit, leading to a wild race. The current forecast doesn't have much rain on the horizon, but that could change quickly. At present, there will be wind gusts, but anything could blow in. Could we see another weather-affected Taupō race after last year's instant classic?

The race to become GM's HT

Looking beyond Taupō, there's a big story playing out behind the scenes as General Motors searches for its new homologation team. With Triple Eight off to Ford in 2026, GM is hunting a new HT. At current, Chevrolet will be represented by Matt Stone Racing, PremiAir Racing, Team 18, Brad Jones Racing and Erebus Motorsport in 2026. However, Erebus has already pulled out of the race, leaving the other four in the hunt. The early favourite was PremiAir, although Team 18 has recently emerged as the frontrunner. Both teams have new factories and plenty of key personnel. There's also another caveat: who will become the second Toyota team? With all the Ford teams locked away, aforementioned teams could jump ship. MSR has already committed to GM, leaving BJR, which has been in the GM fold since 2008, with a chance to join Toyota.