The 2022 Supercars championship got off to a chaotic start in Sydney, where debilitating humidity and intermittent rain challenged drivers on their first weekend back in the cockpit.

So tricky were conditions that even reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen wasn’t immune, with a pair of high-profile Sunday offs derailing a hitherto imposing weekend.

These are the key talking points from a sometimes wet and almost always wild weekend in Sydney.

The Supercars will fire up for 2022 at a floodlit Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend with just one crucial question in mind: can anyone catch Shane van Gisbergen?

The challenge of title defence will be as hard as ever in the final year of the Gen2 regulations. It’s a truism in motorsport that the longer the rules stay the same, the closer the field becomes, and the pandemic-induced delaying of Gen3 til 2023 has gifted Van Gisbergen’s would-be usurpers a final opportunity to hone their attacks to steal the crown.

But momentum counts for a lot in Supercars, and getting the campaign off to a strong start was key to Van Gisbergen’s title last year. Can he do it again this weekend in Sydney?