Winners and Losers from the Weekend’s Castrol EDGE Townsville 400

Let’s take a peak at the results from Castrol EDGE Townsville 400!

Winner: Shane Van Gisbergen

Shane Van Gisbergen had a weekend to remember at Townsville, finishing 2^nd in race 1 and winning the second race to cap off an incredibly dominant performance by the New Zealander. Performing brilliantly on nursed rear tyres for the majority of the race, Van Gisbergen tore them to shreds after he took Sunday’s chequered flag, putting on a drifting masterclass for the ages in celebration.

Loser: Craig Lowndes

Poor Lowndesy had a pretty dull weekend overall, as the V8 Supercars series showed just how quickly it can blow a tight championship picture apart. The Team Vortex driver could only muster 10^th and 12^th place finishes respectively, the first of which saw him drop 8 places from a strong qualifying position after a disastrous pit stop error. The three-time champion now sits over 150 points shy of Whincup’s championship lead going into the Ipswich SuperSprint.

Winner: Jamie Whincup

It was written in the stars from day one really, wasn’t it? Adding to his incredibly impressive resume at the Townsville street circuit, Whincup put in a hell of a shift over the weekend. Winning race 1 and finishing a respectable fourth in the second, he now sits at the peak of a championship picture that seems to be a 3 horse race.

Loser: Wilson Security Racing

WSR were awarded a pretty firm reality check this weekend, managing to muster one 5^th place finish and not much else. In the first race, championship contender Scott McLaughlin and teammate James Moffat lost 15 places between them, on their way to 24^th and 17^th place finishes between them. Race 2 fared slightly better for McLaughlin, but weekends like this have to stop if he’s to have any chance of challenging the top dogs.

Winner: James Courtney

A monumental performance in Sunday’s race saw James Courtney climb from 12^th to 2^nd, bringing a glimmer of positivity to what has been an uncharacteristically poor season for the Holden Racing Team. A 6^th place finish in the first race also added to a string of good form for Courtney, who has now recorded 3 top 6 finishes in a row.

Loser: Nick Percat

Amid the turmoil going on at his team (more on that in a second), Nick Percat entered Townsville on a lowly 591 points. He left Townsville with an equally lowly 591 points, racking up 2 DNFS in as many races. In race 2, team mate Andre Heimgartner joined him in an early exit from the race, adding to the list of woes for Lucas Dumbrell’s team.

Winner: livery designers nationwide

The build-up to the Townsville 400 saw almost as many livery changes as the weekend saw championship place changes. Nissan celebrated a deal with Melbourne City Football club with a fancy sky blue design for Michael Caruso’s Altima, while the injunction imposed on Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport’s deal with a tobacco retailing company forced a last minute decision to run the cars completely blank.

Now, things are set to get even more hectic in the paint shop, due to…

Loser: Erebus Motorsport

After a reported blow up following yesterday’s race, the CEO of Plus Fitness stormed out of Townsville Street Circuit and switched sponsorship allegiance to Lucas Dumbrell. Aaren Russell, a driver backed by both Plus Fitness and the fabulously named Dragon Corporation, was also pulled from Erebus’ driver line up. This could get messy.