DRIVER welfare continues to be a talking point in the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship after the latest examples of stars requiring post-race medical attention.
On Saturday at Hidden Valley it was Brodie Kostecki and Thomas Randle in a world of hurt.
Kostecki has been under the weather for several days; that, combined with the Darwin heat and restricted flow from his drink bottle left him on struggle street during and after Race 18.
Randle meanwhile suffered a cool suit failure.
Supercars recently introduced a heat policy, but that is only enforced when the day’s maximum temperature is forecast to exceed 32.9 degrees. That was not triggered yesterday, given the predicted top of 32.
There are two types of cool suits used by main game teams.
Brodie Kostecki after finishing third in Race 18. Pic: Ross Gibb
Seven teams confirmed to V8 Sleuth they use dry ice-based systems, accounting for 15 of the 24 cars.
Walkinshaw TWG, Tickford, Dick Johnson Racing, Team 18, Blanchard Racing Team, Brad Jones Racing and Erebus Motorsport are all in that bracket.
Four teams and nine cars run electric cool suits: Grove Racing, Triple Eight, Matt Stone Racing and PremiAir Racing. They each run helmet air independently off dry ice.
Team 18 switched from electric cool suits earlier this season after David Reynolds struck trouble in Sydney. It changed one car over for Albert Park, and then the other for Taupō.
“The dry ice is probably more effective, but it’s something you have to manage,” Team 18 boss Adrian Burgess told V8 Sleuth.
“So we made that decision after Sydney.”
Triple Eight also notably had dramas in Sydney, and to a lesser degree at Taupō, but has since refined its equipment and processes.
A maximum of 31 degrees is forecast for the town of Berrimah today which means, unless that increases to 33 by 8am local, the heat rule will again not be in effect for Race 19.