James Golding predicts “aggressive” showing from Supercars drivers in Townsville

With a shake-up to the racing format looming, and plenty of events added to the racing calendar for the Supercars in Townsville, driver’s are promising plenty of spectacle on the track.

Transporter Parade moves along Dean Street, South Townsville. Picture: Evan Morgan

The race to kick-off this year’s NTI 500 Supercars event - and everything that comes with it - is officially on after tonnes of roaring metal were ferried through the centre of Townsville to take their place at Reid Park.

The annual festivities are even bigger this year, with Summernats and PBR getting in on the action, and Townsville’s slate of Supercars racing expanded across three days instead of the traditional two, but Gold Coast driver James Golding said the focus hadn’t shifted for the drivers coming to compete.

“It’s great to be up here in Townsville, this is one of favourite events on the calendar,” Golding said.

“This track is pretty gnarly with the street circuit layout, there’s still a couple of open sections, but it’s a really technical track.

Supercars 2025: Transporter Parade fires up

VIEW GALLERY

“You never really know what’s going to happen every year when you come here, you always hope you’re in with a good chance, but as we’ve seen over many years there’s always lots of stuff that can go down. It’s a really tight track, it’s easy to get caught out and there’s concrete walls everywhere - there’s no margin for error.”

The PremiAir Racing driver said drivers had been spending time in saunas, training to withstand heat, in order to condition themselves for the conditions in North Queensland inside the powerful V8s.

“Once we get in the car, it just feels like normal,” Golding said.

“Having three days of racing is good, it’s a bit different to what we usually expect here in Townsville - it’s a different kettle of fish. The racing’s been a lot more aggressive this year. Everyone’s going to be pushing hard, there’s going to be a lot of action.”

Originally published as James Golding predicts “aggressive” showing from Supercars drivers in Townsville