Fighting Forward Despite on-track Dilemmas in Darwin

G'day guys,

What a weekend of highs and lows here in the Top End! Darwin always delivers drama and this year was absolutely no different — the Mobil 1 Optus Toyota Supra felt genuinely quick all weekend long, which honestly makes the way things played out even more bittersweet. But there's plenty to be proud of, so let me walk you through it.

Friday qualifying was a tight one. I was just 0.015 of a second away from making the top 10 shootout — literally the blink of an eye off tenth place. It's one of those things that stings in the moment, but I wasn't too worried because the Supra had the pace and I knew we could fight our way through in the race. And that's exactly what we did, picking our way through to seventh by the flag. Not where I wanted to be, but solid points and good data to take into Saturday.

Saturday was a different story in qualifying — the car was flying and I improved two spots through to fourth in the shootout, which had me really excited about what we could do in the race. And early on in Race 18, we were delivering on that promise — I was running fourth and the Supra felt incredible underneath me. In my 400th career Supercars race, I honestly thought we had a shot at the podium. Then I hit some fluid on the circuit at Turn 5, went off the road, and dropped all the way back to fourteenth in an instant.

But you know what? That's when it got fun. I just put my head down, switched into attack mode, and had an absolute blast fighting my way back through the field lap by lap. To come home sixth after starting the second half of the race from 14th felt pretty special. As much as we were gutted with the result, it's always pretty awesome when you get to drive a fast, fast Supercar — and that car was up there with one of the coolest Gen3 cars I've ever driven. Massive thanks to everyone at Walkinshaw TWG Racing for giving me that weapon.

Sunday, I backed up the Saturday pace again and qualified fifth in the shootout, so I was feeling really confident heading into the finale. We were running seventh with just four laps to go when the Supra let go spectacularly — smoke billowing, engine gone. I told the guys on the radio: 'My engine just let go mate, gone.' Absolutely gutting. We came away with zero points from what could have been a top-seven finish, and that stings.

All up, Darwin was a weekend of 'what ifs' — but the speed we showed throughout proves the Supra has what it takes to run at the front. I'm proud of how the team kept fighting through every setback, and I know we'll come back stronger. The pace is there. We just need the results to match it.

Can't wait to get back in the car at the NTI Townsville 500. Thanks for all your support as always — it really does mean everything.

Cheers,

Chaz