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10 Fast Facts: NTI Townsville 500

01 Jul 2022
10 fast facts about this weekend's round
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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 ARMOR 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.

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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.

Whincup won a record 12 races in Townsville

8) The last seven one-two Townsville finishes (in 2016, 2018 twice, 2020, 2021 three times) 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.

Cars will hit the track for dual practice sessions next Friday. Purchase your NTI Townsville 500 tickets now.

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