The Darwin Triple Crown; The weekend of beautiful liveries, great racing and more drama.

Darwin provides us with a picturesque circuit, and even then the round gives us some great livery designs to represent the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.

Race 17:

Race 17 brought up some great racing, especially from the race winner, Cam Waters. On the day, he was working hard for a win in 2026, and with the grit and determination he was able to achieve exactly that. It was not an easy battle though, with Kai Allen breathing down his neck for the win, it was a very close battle, but Kai Allen was just short of the win, taking out P2 ahead of teammate Matt Payne who finished in P3.

Cam Waters had a solid weekend in Darwin with a win and recieving the Triple Crown win as well.

Brodie Kostecki was managing another weekend of sickness, dealing with concerns around that. Having started on pole it was going to be a tough ask, especially with losing 3 positions on track as well. Despite all the dramas he still managed to race and achieve a great result, finishing P4.

Will Brown had an impressive showing in Darwin. Brown had started P9 after a difficult time during qualifying, but outqualifying his teammate Broc Feeney who started P13. By the end of the race Will Brown was up into the top 5, finishing P5, whilst Feeney had a difficult race, struggling and ultimately finishing P14.

Anton De Pasquale struggled during race 17. Starting on the front row in P2, despite all the effort and work to achieve the great qualifying result, by the end of the race he had dropped down 4 positions and was forced to settle for a P6 result. A difficult first race during the weekend for Team 18.

Walkinshaw TWG Racing had a good weekend with both drivers finishing within the top 10 for race 17. Chaz Mostert having qualified P11, managed to make up 4 positions over the race itself to achieve a P7 result, whilst teammate Ryan Wood did lose two positions, but still managed a P8 result. This means the team was able to score some solid points for the team.

Impressive racing on Friday between all of the teams.

P9 was the young PremiAir racing driver Jayden Ojeda. Having started in an impressive P5, he did struggle a bit on track for position against some of the hard hitters but still was able to put in his best drive and score some decent points.

Finally, the final driver in the top 10 was Brad Jones Racing driver Macauley Jones. Jones had a great first race, making up four positions on track as well and achieving a solid result for the team.

Race 18:

Race 18 showed us that anything can happen. For Kai Allen it was a race win after a great race and managing to gain 4 positions on track and even gain time on the rest of the field. Cam Waters was Allens biggest competitions and having lost the battle for the win, Waters was forced to settle for P2, but not without a fight with Brodie Kostecki closely behind in P3.

Plenty of drama and chaos occurred between Payne and Waters in Darwin.

Matt Payne had another strong result during race 18. Despite starting in P3 for the race, his teammate was extremely competitive and showing what he can do and for Payne he was forced to settle for P4.

P5 was another solid showing from Will Brown. Brown had just missed out on the Top Ten Shootout opportunity, forced to start P11. This didn’t stop him, having gained 6 positions to finish with another strong result. His teammate Broc Feeney also showed better pace, making it into the shootout, and starting P6. For the race, there was still improvement needed from the team, but Feeney managed a top 10 finish, ending up P7.

Splitting the two RedBull Ampol Racing cars was the Walkinshaw TWG Racing car of Chaz Mostert. Darwin wasn’t looking overly strong for the team and race 18 seemed to be a major struggle for Mostert being caught out with fluid dropped from Woods car on track. Despite all the worries and issues, he still managed to finish P6. Teammate Ryan Wood ended up with a steering issue after an incident with Declan Fraser and was forced to retire the car after just 4 laps.

Anton De Pasquale was the biggest mover during race 18. He managed to make up 12 positions to ultimately finish within the top 10. It was a tough qualifying session for De Pasquale, having missed out on the shootout and starting P20, there was plenty to do during the race. He proved how strong of a driver he is and ultimately went on to finish P8.

A very strong result for De Pasquale, making up 12 spots during saturdays race.

 Jack Le Brocq was a quiet entry into the top 10. Having had a brilliant showing in qualifying, he managed to place himself in P7 in the shootout before getting into the race itself. Although losing two positions, he still was able to finish P9.

The P10 result went to Jayden Ojeda with another great overall result for the team in race 18. Having started outside the top 10, he worked hard and managed to make some great overtakes to get into the top 10.

Race 19:

The final race of the weekend and there had been plenty of chaos over the weekend. Due to being unwell, both Brodie Kostecki and Thomas Randle could not participate in the race, instead the teams’ co-drivers stepped in. Todd Hazelwood stepped in for Kostecki, whilst we saw an appearance from Mark Winterbottom replacing Thomas Randle. For these two, it wasn’t the perfect result they would have wanted, but being able to race was better than nothing.

The big winner on Sunday was Anton De Pasquale, who drove such a brilliant race to achieve that win. Having made it into the top 10, and starting P3 after the Shootout, it was very close. After managing to overtake a strong looking Cam Waters and Matt Payne, the win was very well deserved. His teammate David Reynolds, also managed to get into the top 10, having started from P17 and ultimately sneaking in to finish P10.

It was a great race 19 for Anton De Pasquale winning the race ahead of Matt Payne and Cam Waters.

P2 for the race went to Matt Payne, who had driven so well over the entire weekend pushing the car to its absolute limits. His teammate Kai Allen had a good result in race 19, not as good as he might’ve wanted, but a top 10 finish after starting P12, he managed to get vital points finishing P6.

For Cam Waters, he would’ve hoped he could’ve gotten two race wins, but with Payne and De Pasquale, it was such a difficult task. Waters would settle for P3 but be determined to prove that he is back after a tough few weeks.

RedBull Ampol Racing had their best result in race 19, with both drivers making it into the top 5. It would be another strong result for Will Brown who managed to finish in P4 and just ahead of his teammate Broc Feeney in P5.

For Walkinshaw TWG Racing, the result they got would not have been one they expected. With an engine issue for Chaz Mostert during the final part of the race forcing him to DNF, they’d be left with one driver. Ryan Wood was still able to get some points for the team finishing in P7, but it would be a tough result to deal with as a team.

Tough day for Chaz Mostert as an engine failure forced him to end his race early.

Jack Le Brocq made another appearance in the top 10 in Darwin, starting in P7 and managing to finish in P8, whilst his teammate Zach Bates had a very tough weekend, especially with penalties and unfortunate results despite positive qualifying outcomes.

P9 was Cam Hill who had a great race result, making it into the shootout to try for pole position and ultimately starting P8. Brad Jones Racing have been showing some solid pace so far in the 2026 season, with plenty more racing still to go, let’s see what else they can do.