Driver walks away unscathed from huge rollover in Porsche-Michelin Sprint Challenge at Townsville 500

Unbelievable scenes early on Saturday at the Townsville 500 in one of the precursor races to the Supercars’ main event.

Porsche-Michelin Sprint Challenge racer Conor Somers has walked away unscathed after his vehicle was launched metres into the air in a violent rollover during qualifying at the Townsville 500.

A collision with Ross McGregor on a blind corner at Turn 10 sent Somers’ No.71 Porsche 911 flying into a concrete barricade at high speed, rolling several times.

Somers was uninjured in the crash and crawled out of the driver’s seat window with his car coming to a stop on its roof.

“That is phenomenal. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like that in a Cup car, being launched like that. That was like an open wheeler through there,” Fox Sports commentator Richard Craill said.

“On the entry to the corner he was on the outside of McGregor and it’s launched the car into the air.”

Massive rollover Porsche crash in Townsville

The accident occurred shortly after the railway tracks at the Reid Park circuit, a known danger spot for crashes.

“Once you get through that turn eight, turn nine and you’re leaning into turn 10 that is a very fast blind corner,” Supercars legend and expert commentator Craig Lowndes said on the Fox Sports broadcast.

“There’s been contact between two cars. That’s a heavy impact to move those concrete barriers … that’s huge force.”

Somers had posted the fifth-best time in qualifying so far before the accident, at the midway point of the half-hour block, in his first visit to Townsville.

Debris was strewn across the track with some flying through gaps in the fence, narrowly missing gathered spectators.

The session was red-flagged and the damaged barrier replaced.

Later on, the first rainfall on a Townsville 500 race weekend in five years claimed its first two victims in Race 1 of the Porsche-Michelin Sprint Challenge.

With windscreen wipers activated, No.14 Caleb Sumich lost control of his Porsche 911 and swung into the rear of No.777 Jake Santalucia.

The pair were duelling for fifth place with less than eight minutes remaining when Sumich went wide on Turn 6.

His tires bit into the kerb and wiped out Santalucia during the overtake, triggering a safety car that locked in victory for Oscar Targett.

“That was a big moment,” commentator Garth Tander said on Fox Sports.

“Sumich used the extra width at the exit of Turn 6, and with this sprinkling rain, that curve would have been like an ice rink.

“He got it loose off the exit of that, tried to get on the throttle and just rotated.”

The impact shredded Sumich’s front bumper but Santalucia’s damage was worse, tearing the right-rear corner and two tires from the chassis.

It was the second crash in the support category today, following Conor Somers’ spectacular wipeout in qualifying.

The Supercars Top 10 Shootout begins at 12.05pm.

Originally published as Driver walks away unscathed from huge rollover in Porsche-Michelin Sprint Challenge at Townsville 500