Two for Townsville! Supercars announces return of epic double-header

Townsville will host a Supercars bonanza, with this weekend’s Townsville 500 to be backed up by a SuperSprint weekend on 17-18 July.

Supercars announced the new event schedule today, seeing Townsville handed a double-header for the second year running.

The first event will be the NTI Townsville 500, featuring two 250km races – one each on Saturday and Sunday – following Friday’s practice sessions.

That will be followed by the WD-40 Townsville SuperSprint, which will see three sprint races take place across two days (17-18 July).

This weekend’s NTI Townsville 500 sees the Supercars grid race in the 250km format for the first time since February’s Repco Mt Panorama 500 – and sees Townsville’s Reid Park track host a 250km race for just the second time in its history.

“Following the success of last year’s inaugural double-header, we know two weeks of racing in Townsville allows us to maximize exposure and competition during these times,” Supercars CEO Sean Seamer said in a statement.

“We’d like to thank the Queensland Government and Townsville City Council for again supporting this concept which allows Supercars to race at one of our favorite circuits on back-to-back weekends.

“We’re also pleased to announce that one of our longstanding partners, WD-40 will be our naming rights partner for the new event and we’re grateful to have them back on board.

“Supercars would like to thank drivers, officials, team personnel and their families for their continued support of this year’s Repco Supercars Championship.”

Townsville government official Scott Stewart was exuberant in a statement.

“There’s only one thing better than having Supercars in Townsville and that’s a motorsport double-header across two weekends, back-to-back” Mr Steward said.

He added: “Not only does this announcement put North Queensland at the center of Australia’s motorsport universe, it also supports local jobs.”