V8 Utes Fast Facts: Sucrogen Townsville 400

1. The Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series – protected by ARMOR ALL – will return to the Townsville Street Circuit after a one year absence. The V8 Utes were at the inaugural round in 2009 making this their fourth appearance at the event, including 2010 and 2011.

2. George “Slick” Miedecke set the first lap record in a V8 Ute at the Sucrogen Townsville 400 (pictured), however Ford rival Jack Elsegood snatched it by the end of the weekend (Race Two, 2009) and held it for two years.

Reigning V8 Ute Champion Ryal Harris set the current record in 2011 in Race One with a time of 1min28.2930sec.

3. One of the fiercest battles for the ARMOR ALL Pole Award took place in Townsville. In 2009 Jack Elsegood pipped George Miedecke, in the last 30 seconds of the Qualifying session by only one-hundredth of a second in a time of 1min27.94. In 2011, Harris pipped Chris Pither, the 2011 Champion, by only nine-hundredths of a second.

4. Jack Elsegood and Grant Johnson have the best track record in Townsville; two-time V8 Ute Champion Grant Johnson has two race wins and three podiums (second 2011 and 2010, third 2009) under his belt. Elsegood has claimed two podiums (first in 2010 and second in 2009) and two pole wins – however he is yet to win a race at the Reid Park circuit. Ryal Harris, the reigning V8 Ute Champion, has won two races and one pole but is yet to stand on the podium. 

5. Race Three at Townsville will mark the halfway point for the 2013 Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series – protected by ARMOR ALL.

6. Townsville local, Graham “The Local Kid” Edwards will make his third appearance at his local track. He debuted in the V8 Utes in Townsville in 2010 and raced at home again in 2011, he has competed in four other V8 Ute rounds including 2011 Clipsal 500, 2011 Sandown 500 and the 2011 ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600. 

7. This will be the first year the Ford FGs have raced in Townsville, with the introduction of the new model last year.

8. Almost half the field (15 drivers) are yet to drive at the Townsville street circuit. First time V8 Ute drivers to the event include Todd Zani, Elliot Barbour, Adam Marjoram, Cam Wilson, Grant Bromley, Jesse Dixon, Gerard McLeod, Wayne Wakefield, Stephen White, Tony Longhurst, Phonsy Mullan, Matt Nolan, Ben Dowley, Richard Bloomfield and Kris Walton.

Seven drivers in the Series have competed in Townsville at all V8 Utes events, including Craig Dontas, Peter Burnitt, Jack Elsegood, Kim Jane, Andrew Fisher, Ryal Harris and Gary Baxter.

Gary MacDonald will re-join the Series for the first time since Bathurst last year. This will be MacDonald’s second time competing at the Townsville Street Circuit; he also competed there in 2010. 

Due to incidents at Round Three in Darwin, #41 that was driven by “Spud” Wood and #72 of Danny Buzadzic will not be competing at this round. The two cars were written off in two separate incidents and both require a rebuild.

Elliot Barbour has changed from #12 to #7 for the rest of the year. His teammate David Sieders had the number at the previous round in memory of his friend Rodney Crick who passed away last week. The five-time Australian Truck Racing Champion and racing veteran was a close friend of the Sieders family. Sieders will be back in #8.  This will make Barbour the third driver to wear the number this year – Jeremy Gray gave it up at Round Two to switch to #67 for good luck.

Cam Wilson will continue to don #24 to promote his 24 hour Go Kart Challenge set to take place this November at his Gold Coast Karting Centre – he will try to set a new Guinness World Record for the greatest distance travelled in 24 hours. He will also be doing this to raise funds for Huntington Association, a hereditary disease his father was recently diagnosed with. 

9. The V8 Utes will once again be involved in a street parade through Townsville. This year, the Utes will end up at The Strand to take part in a signing session.

The street parade will begin at the track at 3.50pm. Utes will continue on Saunders Street, Denham St, Eyre St, Warburton St, North Ward and Landsborough St, before the Utes turn into The Strand, where drivers will remain until 6pm to sign autographs and meet fans. 

10. All V8 Utes will run a sticker in memorial of Allan Simonsen who passed away recently at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Simonsen ran in a three-car V8 Ute team in 2005 alongside Ian McAlister and Jack Elsegood for Coopers Pale Ale Racing. Simonsen’s PR Manager Jon Hart designed the stickers in his honour, the two met each other when Hart was the PR Manager for Coopers Racing and have been friends ever since. Hart unfortunately won’t be in Townsville, as he is flying to Denmark this week.

ENZED Drivers Championship Leader Ryal Harris will also honour Simonsen this weekend doning the red and white colours of the Danish flag on a new racesuit, which he will then auction off at the end of the weekend for a charity of the Simonsen’s  family’s choice. 

Points breakdown: 

There is a total of 175 points up for grabs on the weekend. 

The point system awards the top three place getters with bonus points. First place will receive 35 points, second place 33 points, third place 31 points and fourth place 29 points; it then reduces one point for every position to 32nd place.

Determining grids:

Race One grid is determined by Qualifying. Race Two grid is determined by a random ballot drawn by the Race One winner.  The number drawn is the number of Utes that will be reversed on the grid for that race. The Grid for Race Three will be determined by the highest aggregate points earned from the results of Races One and Two (Qualifying points not included). In the event of a tie, the highest grid position will go to the fastest qualifier.

The new qualifying format will also be run at this Round. The new format, similar to the qualifying system used in Formula 1, features a 30 minute session broken up into three individual segments.

Qualifying One will include all 32 V8 Utes and after 10 minutes, the top 20 fastest drivers will continue into Qualifying Two, for a shorter seven minute session. The top 10 drivers from this session will then start Qualifying Three, a short five minute session allowing for a one or two lap shootout. The fastest lap times will then determine the top ten grid for the start of Race One, with the balance of the grid filled as they drop off in lap time from each segment.