Where to catch your first glimpse of this weekend’s Supercars competitors
Racing fans will be able to catch their first look at the action that will dominate the Townsville track this weekend.
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Townsville’s NTI 500 Supercars leg is set to kick off this weekend, but before the action begins, race-crazy revheads will be able to get their first glimpse of the action set to unfold.
The Transporter parade, featuring over 20 vehicles, including the competing team’s B-double transporters, is set to begin at midday today.
The parade will set off from the corner of Webb Drive and Ingham Road and finish up at Reid Park, ready for the action to begin this weekend.
The first race is set to begin on Friday, when the practice rounds kick-off.
GET CAUGHT UP WITH OUR FAST FACTS:
1. Three teams – Triple Eight Race Engineering, Dick Johnson Racing (as DJR
Team Penske) and Tickford Racing – have proven to be the dominant teams in
Townsville. Between them they’ve won the last 22 Townsville races in a row dating
back to the 2014 event.
2. Seven-time champion Jamie Whincup’s record of 12 Townsville Supercars
Championship race wins has a new challenger in Shane van Gisbergen. The Kiwi
has won eight races in Townsville.
3. Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert is still chasing his first race win in
Townsville. He’s finished on the podium six times there before – the most podium
results at the track of any driver that has not yet won a race. Mostert has scored one
second place (2020) and five third-placed finishes (one in 2019, two in 2020, two in
2021).
4. Will Davison and James Courtney start their 227th Supercars Championship round
when they line up in Townsville. It moves them past 1995 champion John Bowe and
they’ll now sit equal ninth on the all-time championship round starts list.
5. Ford drivers have taken 14 of the 18 ARMOUR ALL Pole Positions that have been
on offer so far this season. However, they’ve won just five of those 18 races held in
2022. Recent trends have been better though as Mustangs have won four of the last
six races in this year’s championship.
6. Only three drivers on the 2022 Townsville grid have competed in every Supercars
race held on the Reid Park circuit since it debuted on the calendar in 2009 – Mark
Winterbottom, Shane van Gisbergen and James Courtney have competed in all 34
races.
Fabian Coulthard and Jamie Whincup have also competed in all 34 races held so far
but won’t be on the grid this year.
7. The Sunday race in Townsville will mark the 50th Supercars Championship race
start for the Blanchard Racing Team. Last year its CoolDrive Mustang and driver Tim
Slade finished sixth and eighth in the pair of races that made up the Townsville 500.
8. The last seven 1-2 Townsville finishes (in 2016, 2018 x 2, 2020, 2021 x 3) have
been achieved by Triple Eight. The last team other than Triple Eight to score a 1-2
finish in Townsville is Tickford Racing (then known as Prodrive Racing Australia) in
2015, with Mark Winterbottom leading home David Reynolds.
9. 10 of the 34 races held in Townsville have been won by the car starting on pole
position. Nine of the last 11 races there have been won by the pole-sitter.
10. The Safety Car has appeared in 18 of the 34 races held in Townsville and in 11
of the 18 Sunday races at the event. There have been three rounds – 2017, the first
round in 2020 and the 2021 ‘500 – in Townsville without the Safety Car making at
least one appearance in one of the races.
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Originally published as Where to catch your first glimpse of this weekend’s Supercars competitors
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