Super2 talking points in 2025: The champion's new home

Ahead of the 25th anniversary season of the Dunlop Super2 Series, Supercars.com takes a look at some of the key talking points ahead of the 2025, starting with the reigning champion's new home.

Fresh off breaking Walkinshaw Andretti United's 15-year long championship drought in any category, Zach Bates returns to the Dunlop Super2 Series in 2025 with the #1 on the windscreen.

Bates prevailed in a thrilling 2024 season, hunting down 2023 champion Kai Allen in the second half of the year, before fending off Mike Kable Young Gun Award winner Aaron Cameron in an epic Adelaide finale.

It capped off a big fortnight to end the year for the 20-year-old, who was also confirmed as Triple Eight's 2025 wildcard young gun in the lead-up to Adelaide, partnering with Craig Lowndes at The Bend and Bathurst.

Bates' big main game break has also brought about a new home in the development series, with the Canberran's two-year tenure as part of the WAU Foundation Academy coming to a close.

With Allen graduating to the Repco Supercars Championship full-time with Grove Racing, Eggleston Motorsport have made a like-for-like replacement by securing the services of Bates.

Eggleston clinched the 2024 Super2 Teams' Championship at the final round in Adelaide, and with the reigning driver's champion added to their roster, it would be hard to argue that they're not the favourites this season.

Allen got within 90 points of creating history by becoming the first back-to-back Super2 Series champion in category history, and Eggleston will be out to finish the job that the South Australian teenager started.

If Bates was to go back-to-back, he would have to beat his current employers to do so, with Triple Eight having announced their return to the development series with a two-car operation in October.

With former Carrera Cup star Jackson Walls and GR Cup frontrunner Ben Gomersall already confirmed at Triple Eight before Bates' signing was made official, that left the long-time benchmark of the Super2 paddock as the next logical home for Bates.

The Triple Eight vs Eggleston rivalry could be a storyline in it's own right, with the customer team set to battle it out with the factory operation for the first time since 2022, when Declan Fraser was crowned champion for Triple Eight.

Triple Eight could also have an impact on the title battle outside of the Super2 paddock with Bates' maiden Supercars Championship starts later this year, something Eggleston know all too well.

Cooper Murray's 2024 season is a cautionary tale for Bates; after being touted as a title contender in the pre-season, Murray had a dreadful start to his campaign, only being classified once in the first five races.

In between, the 23-year-old turned heads in Darwin on his main game debut, and also starred in the enduros, ultimately cutting his Super2 season short by two rounds to focus on his Supercars ambitions.

Whilst you would imagine that Bates wouldn't pull out of the Super2 Series if he has a strong start to the season, it definitely isn't out of the realms of possibility that his attentions could be split at Bathurst in particular.

How he fares in the switch from WAU to Triple Eight machinery early in the season could also have a big impact on the season, especially as Eggleston expand to a mammoth five-car operation with an up-and-coming driver roster.

The hunter from 2024 has now become the hunted in 2025. Can Bates create history in the Dunlop Super2 Series' 25th anniversary season?

Tickets for the season-opening round in Sydney, on February 21-23, are on sale now.