Shootout on Townsville SuperSprint schedule

Supercars has revealed the on-track schedule for this weekend’s WD-40 Townsville SuperSprint, which has some notable elements.

The seventh event of the season will be the first two-dayer to feature a Top 10 Shootout, which will finalise the grid for Saturday’s Race 17.

That comes at the expense of a quarter of an hour of practice time relative to the usual sprint format, with just a single, 45-minute session before Qualifying for Race 17 is run from late in the morning.

However, once last weekend’s NTI Townsville 500 is accounted for, the field will have had just over two hours’ worth of practice on the Reid Park Street Circuit.

As was the case at last year’s Townsville SuperSprints, each race is scheduled for 39 laps or 110km, with the grid for Sunday’s affairs set by the usual 10-minute qualifying sessions in the morning.

Each race will include a compulsory pit stop for changing at least two tyres, the norm for a sprint event, with the soft compound in play again.

As previously announced, the Dunlop Super2 Series (including Super3) and the Townsville Tin Tops make up the support bill.

The single Super2/Super3 practice session will again be 40 minutes long, with qualifying continuing to be split along class lines and each race set at 21 laps, as was the case last weekend.

The Tin Tops have practice, qualifying, and their first race on Saturday, with two more races on Sunday.

After Townsville, the Supercars Championship and Super2 fields are set to have almost five weeks off before the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight, although the prospect of that event proceeding at least on its planned August 20-22 date is somewhat doubtful due to Victoria’s recent decision to close its border to New South Wales.

Red Bull Ampol Racing took a one-two in both races last weekend in North Queensland, with Shane van Gisbergen heading home Jamie Whincup in each.

Schedule: WD-40 Townsville SuperSprint, Reid Park Street Circuit Local time/AEST