The Supercars calendar visits far-north Queensland this weekend as practice begins tomorrow morning, ahead of Friday’s sprint race later that afternoon, to kick-off the NTI Townsville 500 at the Reid Park Circuit.

Teams haven’t faced a touch-and-go scenario like this at a street circuit event since the COVID-impacted Townsville event in 2021 four years ago, as teams arrived only as recently as Thursday.

This year includes the first-ever Friday race at the Townsville 500 in the event’s history.

Supercars fans are excited at the prospect of a huge weekend of racing, with drivers going head to head in three races over three days, all beginning with Friday’s 100km sprint before 70 laps on Saturday (Race 21) and 70 laps on Sunday (Race 22).

Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Broc Feeney leads the points standings by a formidable 183 points over teammate Will Brown heading into the weekend.

Feeney has won the last five Repco Supercars Championship races in a row – a career-best streak of wins for the young Red Bull Ampol driver.

The last driver to win five in a row was his former teammate Shane van Gisbergen, in 2022.

The Townsville 500 is also a near-identical match to the Grand Final format in Adelaide later this year, making it a critical practice run for Feeney.

If Feeney is able to win all three races this weekend, he levels Craig Lowndes’ record for most race wins in a row with eight. The record set by Lowndes during his debut season with HRT back in 1996.

Dewalt Racing driver Anton De Pasquale is looking froward to what should be a good weekend for him and his team.

“We’re going into a different part of the year now with street tracks, tyre life and all of those things will be spoken about a lot over the weekend, it’s very different to where we’ve been coming from,” De Pasquale said.

“Momentum has been good, car speed has been good, we’re just trying to execute for the races as a team, and we’re doing that a lot better each week.

“Hopefully that transfers here to Townsville, here is a really good race to have a good performance. We just have to work together and we’re doing that well at the moment.”

All eyes will be on three specific “street circuit masters” in Townsville with the obvious standout being Richie Stanaway, who finishes nearly eight positions better in qualifying on street tracks compared to permanent circuits.

Both David Reynolds and Cam Waters also average around four and a half positions better on street circuits.

All three drivers will undoubtedly be looking to climb up the standings following on from this season’s first street circuit.

Townsville 500 Event Manager, Matt Ramsden, says fans will expect a busy weekend including an abundance of racing and entertainment.

“We’re getting very close now, things are coming to life on site, we’re really excited to welcome people on Friday,” Ramsden said.

“We saw a few people at the last Cowboys game in racing gear, so that’s a good sign people are hanging around for both weekends really taking in the best of North Queensland and the Townsville region.

“Certainly ticket sales are tracking on really well and we’re expecting a late surge this weekend and we’re just looking forward to the excitement of the Townsville 500.”

Red Bull Ampol Racing holds a commanding lead over six races, and has claimed nine of Chevrolet’s 10 wins.

Ford’s eight wins have been spread across Tickford Racing, Penrite Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United, with Dick Johnson Racing and Blanchard Racing Team also scoring podiums.

Triple Eight also accounts for 19 of Chevrolet’s 27 podiums this season. Erebus Motorsport and PremiAir Racing have yet to claim a podium this year.

Broadcast coverage of the Townsville 500 will be live on Foxtel and Kayo, alongside free-to-air on Seven and 7plus.

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Schedule

Friday 11 July

9:20am – 9.50am: Practice 1

11.10am – 11.40am: Practice 2

1.20pm-1.50pm: Qualifying (Race 20)

3.40pm: Race 20 (35 laps)

Saturday 12 July

10.00am – 10.30am: Qualifying (Race 21)

12.05pm-12.40pm: Top 10 Shootout (Race 21)

3:00pm: Race 21 (70 laps)

Sunday 22 June

10:05am – 10:35am: Qualifying (Race 22)

12:05pm-12.40pm: Top 10 Shootout (Race 22)

3:00pm: Race 22 (70 laps)

• All times are in AEST

View the full event schedule.

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Championship Top 10 after Darwin Triple Crown

Broc Feeney – 1,486

Will Brown – 1,303

Matthew Payne – 1,289

Cam Waters – 1,166

Chaz Mostert – 1,007

Brodie Kostecki – 922

Thomas Randle – 847

Andre Heimgartner– 839

Cameron Hill – 786

Anton De Pasquale – 772

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Entry List

Erebus Motorsport

#9 Chevrolet Camaro – Jack Le Brocq

#99 Chevrolet Camaro – Cooper Murray

Walkinshaw Andretti United

#2 Ford Mustang GT – Ryan Wood

#25 Ford Mustang GT – Chaz Mostert

Blanchard Racing Team

#3 Ford Mustang GT – Aaron Cameron

#7 Ford Mustang GT – James Courtney

Matt Stone Racing

#4 Chevrolet Camaro – Cameron Hill

#10 Chevrolet Camaro – Nick Percat

Tickford Racing

#6 Ford Mustang GT – Cameron Waters

#55 Ford Mustang GT – Thomas Randle

Dick Johnson Racing

#17 Ford Mustang GT – Will Davison

#38 Ford Mustang GT – Brodie Kostecki

Brad Jones Racing

#8 Chevrolet Camaro – Andre Heimgartner

#12 Chevrolet Camaro – Jaxon Evans

#14 Chevrolet Camaro – Bryce Fullwood

#96 Chevrolet Camaro – Macauley Jones

Team 18

#18 Chevrolet Camaro – Anton De Pasquale

#20 Chevrolet Camaro – David Reynolds

Grove Racing

#19 Ford Mustang GT – Matthew Payne

#26 Ford Mustang GT – Kai Allen

PremiAir Nulon Racing

#31 Chevrolet Camaro – James Golding

#62 Chevrolet Camaro – Richie Stanaway

Triple Eight Race Engineering

#1 Chevrolet Camaro – Will Brown

#88 Chevrolet Camaro – Broc Feeney