The 2011 Sucrogen Townsville 400 was a motor race for the Australian sedan-based

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

racing cars. It was the seventh event of the

2011 International V8 Supercars Championship The 2011 International V8 Supercar Championship (often simplified to the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship) was an FIA sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the thirteenth V8 Supercar Championship Series and the fift ...

. It was held on the weekend of July 8 to 10 at the

Townsville Street Circuit Reid Park Street Circuit, also known as the Townsville Street Circuit, is a semi-permanent street circuit located in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Opened in 2009, the circuit hosts the Townsville 400 Supercars Championship event every y ...

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. 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 Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18. His career highlights include winning the ...

used the number 95 for this event in a promotion for the

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

movie Cars 2, in which he starred. Winterbottom became the first driver to score four straight series poles since

Mark Skaife Mark Skaife (born 3 April 1967) is a retired Australian motor racing driver. Skaife is a five-time champion of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship, as well as a six-time Bath ...

in 1998 when he took pole for Race 14. The

Holden Racing Team Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...

Garth Tander Garth Tander (born 31 March 1977) is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver competing in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship's Enduro Cup, co-driving the No. 97 Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineer ...

won Race 14 from

Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden ZB Commodore, won a rec ...

and Winterbottom's team mate

Will Davison William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathur ...

. Winterbottom finished fifth behind

Craig Lowndes Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator. Lowndes is a three-time V8 Sup ...

. 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.

Kelly Racing Kelly Grove Racing (formerly known as Kelly Racing and Nissan Motorsport) was an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team made its debut in 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series, 2009, and raced Holden ...

driver Greg Murphy was later given a penalty for a similar incident at the pit exit. Murphy's team mate David Reynolds led the race early on in an impressive drive but collided with

James Courtney James Anthony Courtney (born 29 June 1980) is an Australian racing driver competing in the Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 5 Ford Mustang GT for Tickford Racing. Courtney won the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series ...

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. Winterbottom completed the podium. The two

Stone Brothers Racing Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the International V8 Supercars Championship between 1998 and 2012. The team was formed in 1998 when Ross and Jim Stone bought Alan Jones's shares in Alan Jones ...

drivers,

Alex Davison Alexander Davison (born 3 November 1979) is an Australian racing driver. He won the 2004 Australian Carrera Cup Championship. As part of the Davison motorsport family, he is the older brother of Will Davison, grandson of Lex Davison and cousin ...

and

Shane van Gisbergen Shane Robert van Gisbergen (born 9 May 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver in the Supercars Championship racing in the Number 97 Holden ZB Commodore car for Triple Eight Race Engineering. With three Supercars Championship wins ( 2016, 2021, ...

, 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

Results as follows:

Qualifying Race 14

Qualifying timesheet:

Race 14

Race timesheets:

Qualifying Race 15

Qualifying timesheet:

Race 15

Race timesheets:

Standings

* After 15 of 28 races.

References

{{V8 race report, Name_of_race = Townsville 400 , Year_of_race = 2011 , Previous_race_in_season = 2011 Skycity Triple Crown , Next_race_in_season = 2011 Coates Hire Ipswich 300 , Previous_year's_race =

2010 Sucrogen Townsville 400 The 2010 Sucrogen Townsville 400 was the eighth race meeting of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It featured Races 15 and 16 of the series and was held on the weekend of 9–11 July at the Townsville Street Circuit, in Townsville, i ...

, Next_year's_race = 2012 Sucrogen Townsville 400 Sucrogen Townsville 400