IT’S official: Gen3 Supercars will not become eligible for the Dunlop Super2 Series until 2028.
The subject of when the latest-spec Supercars will enter the second tier has proven divisive for months, with a backlash emerging against the initial push for a 2027 transition.
Triple Eight Race Engineering was at the forefront of campaigning for a sooner switch, with Brad Jones Racing and the Blanchard Racing Team also in support.
Publicly taking a stance to the contrary were teams including Tickford Racing, Walkinshaw Andretti United, Image Racing and Anderson Motorsport.
Independent teams, i.e. those who don’t compete in the main game, have claimed a five-year run with Gen2 machinery was necessary to recoup value on investments in order to make numbers stack up.
The likes of Triple Eight however have argued that bringing Gen3 cars to Super2 would help rising stars make a smoother jump up to the Repco Supercars Championship, given the difference between the technical platforms.
Either way, following extensive consideration, the powers that be have ruled in favour of 2028 per V8 Sleuth sources.
Four Super2 drivers will graduate to full-time Supercars seats next year: Rylan Gray (Dick Johnson Racing), Jackson Walls (Triple Eight), Zach Bates (Matt Stone Racing) and Jobe Stewart (Erebus Motorsport).
Gray is in the box seat to win the 2025 title, entering next week’s Adelaide finale with a 147-point buffer to Tickford teammate Lochie Dalton.
If Gray does go on to seal the deal, that will make for seven Super2 champions on the Supercars grid, also including Bates (2024), Kai Allen (2023), Declan Fraser (2022), Broc Feeney (2021), Thomas Randle (2020) and Cam Waters (2015).
The 2026 Super2 calendar will comprise six rounds: Sydney, Darwin, Perth, Bathurst, Sandown and Adelaide.