Team CoolDrive Townsville 400 Supercars Recap
8 Jul, 2019
Townsville provided a few firsts for Supercars this weekend – Saturday saw its first-ever race where every single car that started the race, finished the race. Sunday saw everyone with their eyes on the skies as Townsville brought the rain for the first time during a race at the Reid Park circuit. The conditions were tough for drivers, as both days delivered muggy, slippery track conditions.
In what Macauley described as two of ‘the toughest races’ in his career, he still managed to drive the Team CoolDrive Supercar forward in both races. He charged from 23rd to 18th in Saturday's race, and on Sunday’s race had charged from 19th to 13th when his race turned. In the wet conditions, the visibility was super poor, and Macauley turned in on Mark Winterbottom, not realising he was there. He received a pit lane penalty for the contact, which sent him down the order. Disappointing for the young gun, as the potential is most definitely there.
Exciting news for the CoolDrive team - Tim Blanchard made his Super2 return this weekend in PETRONAS Motorsport colours and finished the event in 2nd overall! Proving again that Townsville is a happy hunting ground for Blanchard, it was a fantastic effort by Tim and the PETRONAS team which resulted in the spraying of that celebratory champagne on the winners’ podium!
MACAULEY
On Saturday –
“We went to 18th from 23rd in Saturday’s race, moving forward which is always good. We worked hard before the race to make some changes which made the car nicer and more balanced to drive. We want to improve on our qualifying, with the aim to get more out of the green tyre and make it turn on when we need it to on those flying laps.”
“It was one of the hottest and toughest races I’ve ever done. The weather conditions made it super muggy so it felt like the cooling fans weren’t working at all, so trying to keep cool was super difficult.”
On Sunday –
“One of the most difficult races to manage in the wet wasn't confident in the car in those conditions with the tyres, a few positives to take away, the dry race pas wasn’t too bad.
“I had absolutely no idea (Mark) Winterbottom was there when I made contact with him. My wiper wasn’t working and I couldn’t see either mirror due to the fogged-up windows. The vision was horrendous, and I’ve just turned in not realising anyone was there. I can only apologise as it damaged the steering enough to end his race; which is not something I’d ever set out to do.”
“Looking back on the weekend overall, I really enjoy getting to Townsville; the circuit is technical and challenging which makes for some action-packed racing. It’s a lot of fun and the people of Townsville have incredible support for the Supercars, we can’t thank everyone enough for their support.”
WEEKEND RESULTS
Saturday 6th July
Qualifying
Qualified: 23rd
Pole Position: David Reynolds
Race 17 – 200kms
Finished: 18th
Winner: Scott McLaughlin
Sunday 7th July
Qualifying
Qualified: 19th
Provisional Pole Position: Scott McLaughlin
Top Ten Shootout
Pole Position: Cameron Waters
Race 18 – 200kms
Finished: 18th
Winner: Shane Van Gisbergen
COMING UP
Round Nine of the Virgin Australia Supercar Championship
Century Batteries Ipswich SuperSprint
Queensland Raceway
26-28 July 2019
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1 – Scott McLaughlin - 2168
2 – Fabian Coulthard - 1876
3 – Shane Van Gisbergen - 1669
4 – Chaz Mostert - 1640
5 – David Reynolds – 1634
21 – Macauley Jones – 675
More photos and video recaps from the weekend are available on the Team CoolDrive Facebook page now!
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