Erebus Motorsport boss Barry Ryan has vowed the team will bounce back bigger and stronger after a dispiriting Tasmania round laid bare how far the 2023 Supercars champions have slipped in 2026.
Both Erebus entries struggled for pace across the weekend at Symmons Plains, leaving Cooper Murray and rookie Jobe Stewart mired down the order — Murray 22nd and Stewart 24th in the standings — as the Melbourne squad's difficult season deepened.
Ryan, who has overseen significant management change at the team this year, refused to dress up the results.
"I'm not going to sugar coat it, it hasn't been a good weekend," the chief executive said.
But he insisted the rebuild remains on course and that better days are coming.
"We're going to come back bigger and better and stronger at the next round," Ryan said.
Stewart, in his maiden full-time campaign, summed up the weekend bluntly, pointing to a fundamental lack of competitiveness across both cars rather than any single issue.
"A bit average, it just feels like we're a bit out of the window with both cars," the rookie said.
Asked whether recent Chevrolet parity adjustments had altered the picture, Stewart suggested the team's problems run deeper than any series-mandated tweak.
"To be honest, we probably didn't really notice," he said.
The downturn has coincided with a period of upheaval off the track, with Erebus reshaping its management structure over the off-season as it looks to climb back towards the front of the grid.
The squad is now weighing how best to use an allocated test day before the Darwin round on 19-21 June to claw back lost ground, with Ryan hopeful the time on track can unlock the gains the cars have lacked.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/barry-ryan-erebus-tasmania-darwin-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
