2011 Sucrogen Townsville 400
| Event Information | ||||||||||||||
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| Round 7 of 14 in the 2011 International V8 Supercars Championship | ||||||||||||||
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| Date | 8–10 July 2011 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Townsville, Queensland | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Townsville Street Circuit | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Fine | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
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The 2011 Sucrogen Townsville 400 was a motor race for the Australian sedan-based V8 Supercars racing cars. It was the seventh event of the 2011 International V8 Supercars Championship. It was held on the weekend of July 8 to 10 at the Townsville Street Circuit in Townsville, Queensland. It was the third running of the Townsville 400.
The event hosted races 14 and 15 of the 2011 season. A 72 lap, 200-kilometre race was held on both Saturday and Sunday. Qualifying for Race 14 consisted of a 20-minute, all-in session with the fastest ten progressing to the top ten shootout. Qualifying for Race 15 was a single 20 minute, all-in session.
Mark Winterbottom used the number 95 for this event in a promotion for the Pixar movie Cars 2, in which he starred.[1] Winterbottom became the first driver to score four straight series poles since Mark Skaife in 1998 when he took pole for Race 14.[2] The Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander won Race 14 from Jamie Whincup and Winterbottom's team mate Will Davison. Winterbottom finished fifth behind Craig Lowndes. There was controversy over Tander's win when he escaped a drive-through penalty despite hitting the bollard and appearing to cross the blend line at pit entry.[3] Kelly Racing driver Greg Murphy was later penalized for a similar incident at the pit exit. Murphy's teammate David Reynolds led the race early on in an impressive drive but collided with James Courtney on his way into pit lane. The incident put Courtney out of the race and significantly damaged Reynolds car, leaving him 24th at race's end, ten laps off the lead.
Lowndes claimed pole position for Race 15 from Winterbottom and Reynolds. Lowndes led for most of the race before team mate Whincup, who had to queue behind Lowndes in his second pit stop, passed him in the closing stages.[4] Winterbottom completed the podium. The two Stone Brothers Racing drivers, Alex Davison and Shane van Gisbergen, finished fourth and fifth respectively. Saturday winner Tander was in contention until a rear suspension failure dropped him several laps off the lead. Reynolds again had a disappointing race after a strong qualifying performance.
The weekend saw Whincup extend his lead over Lowndes in the championship from 156 to 186 points, the two Triple Eight drivers beginning to pull away from third placed Van Gisbergen. Whincup scored 288 points to Lowndes' 258, while Winterbottom had the third highest total for the event with 240.
Results
[edit]Results as follows:[5]
Qualifying Race 14
[edit]Race 14
[edit]Race timesheets:[8]
Qualifying Race 15
[edit]Qualifying timesheet:[9]
Race 15
[edit]Race timesheets:[10]
Standings
[edit]- After 15 of 28 races.[11]
| Pos | No | Name | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 1683 |
| 2 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 1497 |
| 3 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen | Stone Brothers Racing | 1317 |
| 4 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Kelly Racing | 1244 |
| 5 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Performance Racing | 1201 |
References
[edit]- ^ "Frosty changes race number for Townsville". SpeedCafe. 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
- ^ "Winterbottom takes fourth consecutive pole". SpeedCafe. 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
- ^ "Tander Makes History in Townsville". Official site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2011-10-03.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Whincup Wins Final Race in Townsville". Official site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2011-10-03.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Townsville Street Circuit 10/07/2011 - Sucrogen Townsville 400-V8 Supercars Championship Race 14&15". National Software. 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
- ^ "Sucrogen Townsville 400 - V8 Supercars Championship Race 14&15 - Townsville Street Circuit - V8 Supercars - Qualifying Race 14". National Software. 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
- ^ "Sucrogen Townsville 400 - V8 Supercars Championship Race 14&15 - Townsville Street Circuit - V8 Supercars - Top Ten Shootout". National Software. 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
- ^ "Sucrogen Townsville 400 - V8 Supercars Championship Race 14&15 - Townsville Street Circuit - V8 Supercars - Race 14". National Software. 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
- ^ "Sucrogen Townsville 400 - V8 Supercars Championship Race 14&15 - Townsville Street Circuit - V8 Supercars - Qualifying Race 15". National Software. 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
- ^ "Sucrogen Townsville 400 - V8 Supercars Championship Race 14&15 - Townsville Street Circuit - V8 Supercars - Race 15". National Software. 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
- ^ "Sucrogen Townsville 400 - V8 Supercars Championship Race 14&15 - Townsville Street Circuit - V8 Supercars - Race 15 - Series Points Report". National Software. 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
| Supercars Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 2011 Skycity Triple Crown |
2011 Supercars Championship | Next race: 2011 Coates Hire Ipswich 300 |
| Previous year: 2010 Sucrogen Townsville 400 |
Townsville 400 | Next year: 2012 Sucrogen Townsville 400 |