_street_circuit_track_map.svg) | |
| Race Information | |
| Venue | Reid Park Street Circuit |
| Number of times held | 18 |
| First held | 2009 |
| Race Format | |
| Race 1 | |
| Laps | 88 |
| Distance | 250 km |
| Race 2 | |
| Laps | 88 |
| Distance | 250 km |
| Last Event (2024) | |
| Overall Winner | |
 Cam Waters | Tickford Racing |
| Race Winners | |
| Cam Waters | Tickford Racing |
 Matthew Payne | Grove Racing |
TheTownsville 500 (formally known as theNTI Townsville 500) is an annualmotor racing event forSupercars, held on theReid Park Street Circuit inTownsville,Queensland,Australia. The event has been held since2009.[1]
The event was known as theTownsville 400, based on a 400 kilometre format, in ten of the first eleven years of the event. In 2021, the event returned to the 500 kilometre format first used in 2014, while in both 2020 and 2021, two Townsville events were held under theTownsville SuperSprint banner due to calendar changes and shorter races caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[2][3]
The event is staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Two thirty-minute practice sessions are held on Friday. Saturday features a fifteen-minute qualifying session which decides the grid positions, succeeded by a top ten shootout for the following 250 kilometre race. A fifteen-minute qualifying session is held on Sunday, succeeded by a top ten shootout, the combined results of which decide the grid for the following 250 km race.[4]
The event was announced in late 2007, following the allocation of funding from both thefederal and theQueensland state government.[5] The event became the third Queensland event on the calendar, joiningQueensland Raceway inIpswich and theSurfers Paradise Street Circuit on theGold Coast. However, Townsville did become the first major motor racing event to be held in theNorth Queensland region.[5] The event is generally held in early July each year, which aligns with theschool holidays of theTownsville State High School which borders the track.[6]
Jamie Whincup won the first race on the circuit in2009, a race which was later reduced by one lap after it was discovered it had extended beyond the time certain finish without being noticed.[7]James Courtney won the Sunday race, his first victory forDick Johnson Racing.[8] Whincup would go on to win the Saturday race again in2010 withMark Winterbottom this time winning the second race. 2011 and 2012 saw four consecutive wins forHolden, with Whincup winning three more races at the circuit. In2012,Formula One world championJacques Villeneuve commenced a three-event substitution for an injuredGreg Murphy with a best finish of 24th.[9] In2013,Russell Ingall broke the all time championship event starts record at the event, whileWill Davison hit the fence as part of his post-race victory celebrations in the first race of the weekend.[10][11] In the Sunday race, theHolden Racing Team scored a one-two finish with Tander leading home Courtney.[12] The team would repeat the one-two finish in the second Saturday race of the 500 kilometre2014 event, with Tander winning from 11th on the grid in the one-off dual-race Saturday format.[13]
Winterbottom won both races in2015 to become the only driver other than Whincup, who achieved the feat in 2012, to achieve a clean sweep of the event.[14] In the first ten years of the event, Whincup's record was unsurpassed, winning ten of the twenty-one races held at the track.[15] Only Tander and Winterbottom (three each) and van Gisbergen (two) won multiple races at the circuit up to 2018. 2019 saw the first wet race in the event's history on the Sunday, beginning withScott McLaughlin andDavid Reynolds clashing on Lap 1 which led to tensions between the drivers and teams involved extending for over a year.[16] The race eventually saw van Gisbergen prevail after a chaotic race featuring several incidents and a pit lane fire atBrad Jones Racing.[17]
The 2020 event was initially delayed to August due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, before a second Townsville event was announced to be held one week later in early September. Both 2020 events, the only Queensland events on the final calendar, used a three-race sprint format under the Townsville SuperSprint event name.[18] 2021 again saw a double-header as the impacts of COVID-19 in Australia persisted, with the first of the two a return to a 500 kilometre event distance last used in 2014.[19]Triple Eight Race Engineering dominated the Townsville 500, leading all but one of the 176 laps, with van Gisbergen prevailing over Whincup in both races.[20]
| Race Wins | Driver |
|---|---|
| 12 | Jamie Whincup |
| 10 | Shane van Gisbergen |
| 4 | Scott McLaughlin |
| 3 | Garth Tander |
| Mark Winterbottom | |
| Cam Waters |
| Race Wins | Team |
|---|---|
| 22 | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
| 7 | Tickford Racing2 |
| 6 | Dick Johnson Racing3 |
| 3 | Holden Racing Team |
| Race Wins | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| 24 | Holden |
| 15 | Ford |
