V8 Sleuth

FORMULA 1 teen sensation Arvid Lindblad has put on a show in his first time aboard a Mustang Supercar. The Brit made an appearance aboard the globetrotting Ford-owned, Dick Johnson Racing-built, Red Bull Ampol-liveried Gen3 car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Seven-time Supercars champion and Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup was on hand to lend the 18-year-old a few tips before also taking to the track. Lindblad proceeded to cut loose with a series of impressive burnouts.

RICHARD Craill will step back from the Shannons SpeedSeries broadcast following his appointment as the new full-time voice of Supercars. Craill pipped Chad Neylon and Matt Naulty to the Supercars play-by-play gig, with this weekend’s Townsville 500 the start of his permanent tenure. SRO Motorsports Australia will announce its rejigged commentary line-up ahead of the Darwin round on July 24-26.

“WAIT and see.” That was the ominous message, delivered with a slight smile, from an aggrieved Ryan Wood after coming off second-best from some vigorous racing on the streets of Townsville. Those three words came in response to a question from Supercars pitlane reporter Riana Crehan as to whether there’d be any square-ups to come in Sunday’s race.

REUBEN Goodall has admitted to being the limiting factor in the #5 Tickford Racing wildcard’s performance as he sinks his teeth into a steep learning curve on his debut Supercars weekend. Goodall fared well to qualify 19th this morning and then found himself up six places on the opening lap of the race.

TWO Supercars rookies were left worse for wear after the physicality of a 200km Townsville race was compounded by cool suit issues. V8 Sleuth understands both Jackson Walls and Zach Bates experienced problems during this afternoon’s race. Walls was attended to by on-site medics post-race, after a promising day’s work in which he qualified 14th (four places ahead of Triple Eight stablemate Broc Feeney) and finished 18th. Register on the V8 Sleuth mailing list below to receive regular updates.

MATT Payne has extended his championship lead with an imperious display in the Saturday Supercars race at the NTI Townsville 500. Polesitter Brodie Kostecki led the early stages of the 68-lap race before being derailed by a slow pitstop caused by a stubborn left-rear wheel. That cleared the path for Payne, who was completely unchallenged thereafter en route to a 15.2885s victory margin. His nearest threat?

TICKFORD Racing remains determined to find a way to get Thomas Randle into the Supercars finals series despite his precarious position in the championship standings. A rough run across Taupō, Christchurch, Symmons Plains and Darwin – where he even had to sit out a race – left Randle a long shot in the bigger picture equation. Even after a solid sixth in the Townsville opener, the Castrol-backed driver is 14th and 230 points below the playoffs cut line.

“DEFINITELY the first time in my career I’ve been happy with 19th!” That was a chipper Reuben Goodall’s reaction after impressing in qualifying this morning on main game debut at the NTI Townsville 500. The Tickford Racing youngster outdid six full-timers in the process, including race-winning trio Jack Le Brocq, André Heimgartner and Cameron Hill, and will start just one position behind Triple Eight star Broc Feeney.

BRODIE Kostecki has paid tribute to injured mechanic Charlie Blanshard after securing another Townsville 500 pole position. “First of all, just want to say g’day to Charlie, he’s watching from hospital,” Kostecki reacted via the Supercars broadcast. V8 Sleuth understands Blanshard was injured during a pitstop in yesterday’s race and is now on the mend.

SATURDAY Supercars qualifying at the NTI Townsville 500 has provided some big cases of winners and losers. Among those on the right side of the ledger was Dick Johnson Racing rookie Rylan Gray, who soared through to the first Top 10 Shootout of his young career. Also with reason to be pleased was the Blanchard Racing Team which got both its cars through to the Shootout.