It was a Red Bull Ampol – Shell V-Power front row at the NTI Townsville 500 as the local fans, free from the chains of COVID19, lined the perimeter of the circuit and wandered amongst the cars on the grid, until they were eventually rounded up by security and made their way from the track.

The field was given the green flag to roll away on a formation lap, thought the Team Sydney Local Legend Commodore of Fabian Coulthard was feeling flat and refused to move. Helped by the Ford Raptor Recovery vehicle Coulthard was placed near the pit exit as the team hurried to replace the battery as the cars returned to the grid. They were given a brief reprieve when Race Control ordered a second formation lap for the remainder of the grid, which gave the team enough time to make the repair and send Coulthard off, ahead of Shane van Gisbergen on pole position. Many of the cars still on the grid kept their engines fired, which saw radiator temperatures climb past 100 degrees celsius. Coulthard returned to the pits to prove the repair had been effective then moved to the pit exit line for the race start.

The race was subsequently reduced to 87 laps, with two compulsory pit stops scheduled during some point of the race.

As the race finally commenced it was Jamie Whincup who got the jump on his teammate to lead down the run towards Turn 1. James Courtney managed to take the inside line to pass both Shell V-Power Mustangs for 3rd. De Pasquale ran 4th with Nick Percat taking 5th from Will Davison at Turn 4. The field managed to get through those opening corners with no major incident.

Jack Le Brocq dropped 7 places during the opening lap, caught out in the shuffle for positions and found himself just behind Chaz Mostert as the field crossed the finish line for the start of lap 2. Whincup already held the best part of a 1 second lead over van Gisbergen, Courtney, De Pasquale,  Percat, Davison, Reynolds, Slade, Waters and Brodie Kostecki.

The order remained quite static at the head of the field with Whincup slowly edging away from van Gisbergen and Courtney. Zane Goddard had been involved in a spirited battle with Garry Jacobson, Jake Kostecki and Jack Smith at the edge of the top12 until rear end contact from Smith saw the MSR Yellow Cover Commodore slide into the wall just after the Boundary Street Turn 10 and suffer damage to the steering arm.

The Red Bull Ampol duo had opened up a 10 second lead by lap 24 then the found themselves under pressure from the likes of Mostert, B.Kostecki and Brown who had elected to take an early pit stop. Though now a lap down on Whincup and van Gisbergen, they had returned to the track with fresh tyres and clear track.

Whincup pitted from the race lead in lap 30 and returned in 4th place. Cameron Waters had stopped at the same time but found himself stationary for an inordinate amount of time as the team made adjustments to the rear ride height of the Monster Energy Mustang. Shane van Gisbergen ran another 4 laps before his first stop, losing up to 2 seconds a lap to those who had already pitted. As a result the Kiwi driver found himself behind Whincup and under intense pressure from De Pasquale when he returned to the circuit on cold tyres. De Pasquale rounded the #97 at Turn 1 to take 2nd place. The positions were reversed on lap 36 with van Gisbergen back into 2nd some 12 seconds shy of the race leader.

The race moved into more of a watching brief as fuel stop strategies began to play out. Brown, Mostert and B.Kostecki had stopped earlier for track position and now began to struggle on relatively older rubber on the edge of the Top 10. Brown once again was amongst the first to take his second set of tyres on lap 52 of 87. It led to a flurry of pitlane activity as cars filed in for their final stops in the laps that followed.

Shane van Gisbergen’s longer opening stint had seemed to be a wrong choice when Whincup led by 11 seconds, though the wisdom of the decision began to show as he tore chunks out of the leader. By lap 55 van Gisbergen sat 3.4 seconds in arrears of Whincup with a larger fuel load and fresher tyres than the race leader. The #97 regained the race lead on lap 59 when Whincup made his final stop.

Scott Pye and Todd Hazelwood suffered from mechanical issues which dropped them down the order after a promising first half to their respective races. Pye stopped with steering arm damage from contact with the high kerbs, while Hazelwood’s Pizza Hut sponsored BJR Commodore trailed a plume of smoke from a power steering issue as he peeled down the pit entry road on lap 59. The team tried to switch to a larger steering wheel in an effort to make the finish line, then pushed the car into the garage when race officials pointed out a significant pool of power steering fluid that lay underneath the car.

Whincup held a 2.6 second advantage when van Gisbergen returned to the circuit after his second stop on lap 64. The gap quickly grew to 4 seconds and the #97 gradually brought the tyres up to temperature. By lap 70 he had caught Whincup and moved into P1 with a late dive under brakes at the turn 11 hairpin.

The two Red Bull Ampol Racing Commodores were in a league of their own during the final laps of the race. Shane van Gisbergen held a comfortable lead over Whincup with 3rd placed Anton De Pasquale almost half a minute further back. Shane van Gisbergen took the chequered flag in 1st from Jamie Whincup and Anton De Pasquale. Nick Percat, David Reynolds, Tim Slade, James Courtney, Cameron Waters, Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom rounded out the Top 10.

“I’m pretty wrecked up, but I’ll get fixed up and go again tomorrow,” Shane van Gisbergen told Fox Sports. “That was real physical, but thanks to Red Bull Ampol Racing our car was awesome. That was super cool! I knew that I had once shot to do it (pass Whincup) before the tyres cooked, but I got him. Today was tough but tomorrow will be tough too.”

“A fantastic team result for the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team, but yeah I’ve got to see where the 7 seconds were,” Whincup said to Fox Sports. “Whether it was car, driver or strategy I’m not sure. I’ll certainly go hunting for that tonight. It’s a bit of sweet and sour, happy for the team and disappointed for the #88 crew that we couldn’t go better after a really good start.”

Anton De Pasquale was the best of the rest in 3rd, a half a minute behind the Red Bull Ampol cars.

“My thing felt all right and I was in my own little race,” De Pasquale explained to Fox Sports. “These guys ahead I couldn’t really see them at the end. We’re going to have a look at it and work out how we can go faster. Our tyre degradation was good, we just need more speed. They were quicker than us in qualifying, quicker than us in the race. It’s kind of is what it is, we’ll have a look at it, but I am happy to get a podium for the Shell V-Power Racing Team.”

Main Image: Red Bull Ampol Racing

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