The Supercars circus continues its north Australian tour. Next stop: Townsville!
The streets of Townsville have been a happy hunting ground for the team over the past decade, and like the Mad Cow Tavern on a Saturday night, we’re hoping the champagne bottles get a fair workout this weekend.
“We’ve always enjoyed going to Townsville since it was introduced to the Supercars calendar in 2009. We have had some great results there in the past but that doesn’t guarantee anything this weekend,” says Jamie ‘JDub’ Whincup.
“Coming off a poor showing at Darwin last weekend, we have some work to do to be fast this weekend.”
A return to Townsville means a return to street circuits, and yes, we’re just as excited as you!
“Street tracks are a fantastic part of our sport as it brings the entertainment to the people and there is not much better than the parklands circuit in Townsville. It’s actually a hybrid circuit with really good racing corners around the back of the track which give it a best-of-both-worlds feel.”
If you’re having flashbacks to Townsville 2019, you’ll remember the absolute mayhem from Sunday’s race. Torrential rain, fire balls (the one in pit lane, not the ones flowing at the casino that night) and a win for Shane ‘SVG’ van Gisbergen.
“Townsville is an awesome track – I love it,” SVG said.
“After a few changes to #97 in Darwin last weekend, the car overall is in pretty good nick so we’ll be looking to come out of the blocks fast.”
How about #88, JDub?
“Thankfully, we have some new parts coming up from our Banyo base to repair the car properly from the last fortnight. We hit the wall hard and had some decent damage from car on car contact.
“The boys will work hard this week making it look and feel brand new again – they do such a good job. The key is getting through these coming weekends with limited damage.”
This week marks the fourth week on the road for the bulls, albeit minimal compared to our Victorian counterparts. With an emphasis to keep team mortal high, JDub says the Supercars fraternity are working hard to keep putting on a show for our fans.
“We’re all hanging in there and lucky we have racing to keep the brain focused,” said JDub.
“It’s our partners who are doing it tough, but we share the challenge with a lot of the community. Together we will all get through this stronger.” The Townsville SuperSprint begins this weekend and features three 39-lap races. Tickets to the event can be purchased here.