For most this race is just an opportunity for glory. The championship is decided, but an opportunity to be the first ever race winner at Adelaide is a prospect none of them want to miss out on.

The big news at the end of the year, as usual, is that silly season is about to kick off in full. Rumours are always swirling, but at the moment they tend to be zeroing in on two teams in particular.

Evolution Racing Team will not look the same following the final round of the season. Lachlan Caple is definitely on the move, with a berth at the Orbit Drop Bear stable already prepared, but there is one other driver confirmed to be on their way out the door. Conversations with multiple drivers around the paddock sees a lot of speculation over the lineup for 2026 with numbers varying wildly depending on who you talk to.

Chief’s Esports Club have already lost Griffin Gardiner, who moved back to Privateer branding on the #93 earlier in the year, but look set to currently be without any active drivers. Dylan Rudd and James Scott are likely to also be on the move.

The most critical battle to be keeping an eye on this week is the battle for automatic qualification for 2025. 20th in the championship is currently being held down by Adam Briggs. Inside the top 20 there’s potentially only two drivers who are punching slightly above their weight when looking at form from season’s past.

Matthew Bowler has shown more pace this season in the Gen 3 chassis which has leant itself more to his driving talents and finds himself sitting 56 points ahead of 20th placed Briggs, and 119 points clear of 21st placed Ian Ford. Andre Yousiff found speed in the latter half of the championship with his endurance campaign. Above average finishes at Phillip Island (19th) and Sandown (20th) started the climb towards the 20, before his best result to date at Bathurst catapulted him up the standings and into 18th, 46 points ahead of Briggs and 109 points ahead of falling outside the bubble to 21st placed Ford.

Drivers currently staring down the barrel of Qualifying Series in 2026 include one of the drivers who challenged for 2024’s title in Ric Kuznetsov, but also the multi-time national Excel Championship winner Ethan Grigg-Gault who showed early speed in the new car, but has trended off as the year has gone on. Grigg-Gault also found a couple of clashing commitments throughout the year which left him relying on a strong finish at Bathurst. Last lap contact put the #7 car in the fence at Griffin’s and failure to follow race direction rules for towing meant that Disqualification left an okay day with zero points.

Grigg-Gault is a mathematical contender, but the circumstances that would lead to requalifying means that he’ll be all but assured to come through the qualifying series.

With all of the implications covered heading into the race lets touch on the race itself.

I must admit, at a lap length just 200m longer than Sandown and being a street circuit, I expected qualifying to be the group format.

With that in mind, setting a lap in Qualifying is going to be important and if I can’t get out at the head of the field, I am going to delay starting my lap to ensure I get a clean run. 

Treat this like a street circuit with a critical focus on track position, and clean air running to gain spots. Strategy and gaming the safety car is going to be highly important as well, and I do think a Safety car is a “when”, not an “if”.

You can go at most 33 Laps on hard, green flag running, with maybe an ability to save 1-2 laps of fuel. The big issue is the track temp and tire wear. Rears and balance are going to be a big issue, with some teams reporting an inability to make the tires last the fuel stint. Generally I won’t be given exact numbers but more of a ball park, so I’d say that's a trend which is likely to be true. 20-25 laps is the sweet spot on stint length.

From a racer’s perspective this one is tough on overtaking opportunities but also requires a large amount of discipline as well. The Turn 1-2 kerbing is problematic to be consistent over and being too far to the right on entry, or using too much kerb, nets drivers a slowdown penalty of about 1.1s. Consider this to be the way iRacing manages kerb strikes. There is a bonus to serving the penalty as soon as possible as the penalty will grow if you don’t serve it immediately.

I’m expecting that at some point someone is going to get the kerbing wrong and cause a massive pileup in the complex from 1-2-3. Turn 8 in the sim isn’t as scary with the lack of consequences early on, but as the tires start to wear there could be a big moment.

Safety car guesstimate from me is somewhere around 80-85%. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s pretty damn close!

That’s all in pre-race prep, but this is going to be a wild one. I’m kind of glad we’re going to Adelaide with a championship already decided, it means we get to treat this whole race as a learning experience. Who will get to finish the championship on a high and be the first driver to win in the Logitech V8 Pro Series from the streets of Adelaide? Join us Wednesday from 7.45pm AEDT to find out.