Fast Facts: Castrol EDGE Townsville 400

1. This year is the eighth time the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship has competed in Townsville since the first event was held back in 2009.

2. Uniquely, no Townsville VASC race has ever had a 100 per cent finishing rate where every car that started has also finished, proving that the circuit is indeed a test for man and machine.

3. Picking pole position in Townsville is ridiculously difficult – 12 different drivers have taken the 15 pole positions that have been on offer and eight different drivers have scored pole position for the last eight races held there. Peculiarly, only once has the pole position driver converted starting first into a race win in Townsville – Jamie Whincup on Saturday in 2010.

4. Only five drivers – Whincup, Garth Tander, Mark Winterbottom, James Courtney and Will Davison – have claimed race victories in Townsville. Whincup has significantly more wins than any of the rest with seven wins on the Reid Park layout; the next drivers on the list are Winterbottom and Tander with three wins each.

5. The lowest grid position for a Townsville race winner is 11th – Tander started from there when he won the second Saturday race in 2014. In fact that also remains his last VASC race win – 66 races have been held since then without the Holden Racing Team pilot taking a victory.

6. Holden has claimed nine race wins in Townsville compared to Ford’s six. No other manufacturer has scored a win there yet, however Volvo did take a pole position last year on Sunday via Scott McLaughlin.

7. Also reaching a milestone in Townsville is DJR Team Penske. The team will become the first to compete in 400 rounds in the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship/VASC.

8. Nissan pilot Todd Kelly will rack up a milestone at the Castrol EDGE Townsville 400; his 500th Virgin Australia Supercars Championship race. Kelly will reach the 500 mark in the Saturday race and become just the fifth driver to achieve the feat.

9. Red Bull Racing Australia’s Shane van Gisbergen has led more laps in this year’s VASC than any other driver – 202 laps from the 684 completed this season. If he makes the Top 10 Shootout in Townsville he will tie Craig Lowndes’ record for most consecutive Shootout appearances in championship history – 23.

10. Lee Holdsworth’s streak of 147 consecutive VASC rounds will come to an end in Townsville given the injuries he received in an accident in Darwin. Until now the Preston Hire Racing pilot had not missed a championship round in a run dating back to late 2005. Young gun Kurt Kostecki will get his first Supercars start as Holdsworth's replacement.

The Castrol EDGE Townsville 400 kicks off with practice on Friday. Click here for all the info you need, including ticketing details for the next Supercars event.