2009 Dunlop Townsville 400
# 2009 Dunlop Townsville 400

The 2009 Dunlop Townsville 400 was the sixth race meeting of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It contained Racess 11 and 12 of the series and was held on the weekend of 11–12 July at Townsville Street Circuit, in Townsville in Queensland, Australia.

## New event

The 2009 Townsville 400 is the inaugural running of this race. The first time a major motorsport has been held in North Queensland, the race has been assembled around a specially created street circuit, as no permanent racing facilities exist in north Queensland, apart from clay surface speedway circuits. Apart from Speedway racing, the largest event previously held in this part of Australia have been rounds of the Queensland Rally Championship.

The race will follow V8 Supercar's most familiar street circuit format with two races evenly split over the Saturday and Sunday of the event. Similar to the Hamilton 400 event the races will be 200 kilometres in length, rather than those of the Adelaide 500 which are 250 kilometres long.

The 2.85 kilometre Townsville Street Circuit becomes the sixth race track in Queensland to host a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship (of which the V8 Supercars form a part of its history), following Lowood circuit, Lakeside Raceway, Surfers Paradise Raceway, Queensland Raceway and most recently the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.

The race also represents an important litmus test for V8 Supercar, as this is the second time they have attempted to grow a street race event in a region where motor racing had not previously had a following, after the failure of the Canberra 400.

## Changes

Mark McNally makes his V8 Supercar series debut, replacing Dale Wood in the #16 Kelly Racing Holden Commodore. Wood remains with the team, although it has not yet been confirmed that Wood will form part of the team's endurance racing squad.

Jason Bright debuts his new race car, the first built by his new team. Stone Brothers Racing. The Ford FG Falcon replaces the Ford BF Falcon that Bright brought to the team from his former team, Britek Motorsport. The only drivers left in the series still running the older BF Falcons now are PCR's Michael Patrizi and the car of Marcus Marshall whose proposed sale of the team to Grant Sherrin of Sherrin Motorsport fell through since the previous round of the series at Hidden Valley Raceway.

## Results

### Race 11

**Qualifying**

| Pos | No | Name | Team | Car | Time |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 18 | James Courtney | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford FG Falcon | 1:12.4747 |
| 2 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford FG Falcon | 1:12.6426 |
| 3 | 111 | Fabian Coulthard | Paul Cruickshank Racing | Ford FG Falcon | 1:12.8161 |
| 4 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | Holden VE Commodore | 1:12.8248 |
| 5 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford FG Falcon | 1:12.8251 |
| 6 | 34 | Michael Caruso | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden VE Commodore | 1:12.8374 |
| 7 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford FG Falcon | 1:12.8520 |
| 8 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden VE Commodore | 1:12.8635 |
| 9 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden Racing Team | Holden VE Commodore | 1:12.9526 |
| 10 | 8 | Jason Richards | Brad Jones Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:12.9893 |
| 11 | 24 | David Reynolds | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.0255 |
| 12 | 10 | Paul Dumbrell | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.0260 |
| 13 | 14 | Cameron McConville | Brad Jones Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.0533 |
| 14 | 39 | Russell Ingall | Paul Morris Motorsport | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.0584 |
| 15 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford FG Falcon | 1:13.1465 |
| 16 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Performance Racing | Ford FG Falcon | 1:13.2002 |
| 17 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Kelly Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.4012 |
| 18 | 333 | Michael Patrizi | Paul Cruickshank Racing | Ford BF Falcon | 1:13.4232 |
| 19 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Kelly Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.5178 |
| 20 | 3 | Jason Bargwanna | Tasman Motorsport | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.5230 |
| 21 | 6 | Steven Richards | Ford Performance Racing | Ford FG Falcon | 1:13.5088 |
| 22 | 55 | Tony D'Alberto | Rod Nash Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.5341 |
| 23 | 67 | Tim Slade | Paul Morris Motorsport | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.5438 |
| 24 | 4 | Alex Davison | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford FG Falcon | 1:13.7166 |
| 25 | 11 | Jack Perkins | Kelly Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.7420 |
| 26 | 51 | Greg Murphy | Tasman Motorsport | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.7738 |
| 27 | 25 | Jason Bright | Britek Motorsport | Ford FG Falcon | 1:13.7867 |
| 28 | 12 | Dean Fiore | Triple F Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:13.8292 |
| 29 | 16 | Mark McNally | Kelly Racing | Holden VE Commodore | 1:14.9106 |
| Sources: ||||||
| Pos | No | Name | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 71 | 1:35:37.4475 | 9 | 150 |
| 2 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden Racing Team | 71 | +1.4s | 5 | 138 |
| 3 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | 71 | +1.7s | 3 | 129 |
| 4 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 71 | +3.0s | 15 | 120 |
| 5 | 34 | Michael Caruso | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 71 | +4.4s | 5 | 111 |
| 6 | 39 | Russell Ingall | Paul Morris Motorsport | 71 | +4.8s | 4 | 102 |
| 7 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Kelly Racing | 71 | +9.5s | 19 | 96 |
| 8 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Performance Racing | 71 | +9.8s | 16 | 90 |
| 9 | 14 | Cameron McConville | Brad Jones Racing | 71 | +10.0s | 13 | 84 |
| 10 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Kelly Racing | 71 | +10.2s | 17 | 78 |
| 11 | 10 | Paul Dumbrell | Walkinshaw Racing | 71 | +10.7s | 12 | 72 |
| 12 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen | Stone Brothers Racing | 71 | +11.0s | 7 | 69 |
| 13 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Dick Johnson Racing | 71 | +11.3s | 8 | 66 |
| 14 | 3 | Jason Bargwanna | Tasman Motorsport | 71 | +12.9s | 20 | 63 |
| 15 | 111 | Fabian Coulthard | Paul Cruickshank Racing | 70 | + 1 lap | 10 | 60 |
| 16 | 25 | Jason Bright | Stone Brothers Racing | 70 | + 1 lap | 27 | 57 |
| 17 | 12 | Dean Fiore | Triple F Racing | 70 | + 1 lap | 15 | 54 |
| 18 | 11 | Jack Perkins | Kelly Racing | 70 | + 1 lap | 25 | 51 |
| 19 | 51 | Greg Murphy | Tasman Motorsport | 69 | + 2 laps | 26 | 48 |
| 20 | 333 | Michael Patrizi | Paul Cruickshank Racing | 69 | + 2 laps | 18 | 45 |
| 21 | 6 | Steven Richards | Ford Performance Racing | 68 | + 3 laps | 21 | 42 |
| 22 | 24 | David Reynolds | Walkinshaw Racing | 66 | + 5 laps | 11 | 39 |
| 23 | 8 | Jason Richards | Brad Jones Racing | 60 | + 11 laps | 6 | 36 |
| 24 | 16 | Mark McNally | Kelly Racing | 60 | + 11 laps | 29 | 33 |
| DNF | 55 | Tony D'Alberto | Rod Nash Racing | 67 | | 22 | |
| DNF | 4 | Alex Davison | Stone Brothers Racing | 60 | | 24 | |
| DNF | 67 | Tim Slade | Paul Morris Motorsport | 42 | | 23 | |
| DNF | 33 | Lee Holdsworth | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 28 | | 1 | |
| DNF | 18 | James Courtney | Dick Johnson Racing | 5 | engine | 2 | |

## Standings

* After round 6 of 14

| Pos | No | Name | Team | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 1560 |
| 2 | 22 | Will Davison | Holden Racing Team | 1386 |
| 3 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | 1212 |
| 4 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 1110 |
| 5 | 17 | Steven Johnson | Dick Johnson Racing | 1050 |
