Supercars officials have reportedly been forced to commence an investigation after a ‘parity’ trigger was reached in Taupo last weekend. Brodie Kostecki won the first race in New Zealand to extend his lead in the championship, before Ryan Wood broke through for Toyota’s first-ever race victory in the format.
But despite the historic win for Toyota, Kostecki’s victory on Saturday for Ford was the trigger for Supercars’ new parity system. Ford has won seven of the first nine races this season – four for Kostecki and Dick Johnson Racing and three for Broc Feeney and Triple Eight.
The other race was won by Anton De Pasquale for Chevrolet and Dewalt Racing. Because Ford has been so dominant, Supercars officials have been forced to launch an investigation into whether all the teams are on a level playing field, according to both V8 Sleuth and Speedcafe.
Ryan Wood recorded Toyota’s first-ever Supercars win. Image: Getty
Ford have also had 22 podiums compared to four for Toyota and just one for Chevy. Under a new parity system implemented in 2026, officials are required to investigate if one team becomes overly dominant. The system works on a rolling six-race calculation based off in-race lap time data.
The trigger system only requires Supercars to undertake an investigation, meaning changes won’t necessarily be made. But according to the rules, chief motorsport officer Tim Edwards has the option to: “Consult with category technical director Perry Kapper, arrange test days to evaluate any proposed changes, conduct further validation/correlation work away from the track, or recommend either a parity adjustment be made or not be made.”
It comes just four months after Supercars undertook aero testing at the Windshear wind tunnel, with all teams believing parity had been reached. Chevrolet have been working on an aerodynamic upgrade package, while Toyota have undergone some recent engine mapping changes.
Brodie Kostecki and Ford have made a dominant start to the Supercars season.
(Getty Images)Ryan Wood and Toyota rapt with first Supercars win
Ford’s dominant start to the year comes after they poached the Triple Eight team of Feeney and Will Brown from General Motors and Chevy. Brown and Feeney finished second and third in the 2025 championship, while Mostert won for Walkinshaw while they were still with Ford. Walkinshaw switched to Toyota in 2026.
“A really, really great team result,” Wood said on Saturday after his victory and Mostert’s third-place finish. “That’s the most important thing, we need to make sure that we keep moving forward.
“We’ve probably had good speed at times to start the year, but, to say that we’ve won a race and had a podium and we’ve shared the podium together in our third round with Toyota. If you told us that at the start of the year, I’m sure me, Chaz, and the rest of the team would be pretty ecstatic.”