Strong Finishes & 200th Race Milestone at Townsville 500

G'day guys,

What a way to mark a milestone. Townsville turned out to be a solid round for us - and given it was my 200th race with the Walkinshaw TWG Racing crew, it felt extra special to be right in the mix all weekend.

We had a bit of a drama in Friday qualifying when the engine went off-song at the end of the session turned out to be a malfunctioning cam position sensor, nothing major in the end. The boys did an absolutely incredible job overnight swapping the engine out as a precaution, and we came into Race 20 ready to go.

Race 20 on Friday was a solid start to the weekend. I was running in the top three early on before our pit stop cycle played out, and we came home fifth. We were right there in the mix, and fifth felt like a fair result from where we were.

Saturday didn't quite go the way we wanted in Race 21, crossing the line seventh. The field was closely bunched but we were able to hold our own and score some more championship points, which is what matters. The crew kept their heads down all weekend and I couldn't be prouder of them.

And then came Race 22 — my 200th race with this team. I had a lot of emotions heading to the grid, and the boys surprised me with a special livery change which I honestly wasn't expecting. When they showed me before the race, I said 'I feel bad for the team who've had to put up with me for 200 races. That's not easy.' Ha! But seriously, 200 races — it means everything to me.

There was a big shunt on Lap 1 which brought out the Safety Car. After the restart I was running sixth, and from there we just put our heads down and worked through the field. We had a clean, disciplined race and brought the Mobil 1 Optus Toyota Supra home in fourth, which was a really satisfying way to cap off the weekend.

Overall it was a consistent round — P5, P7, P4 — and we're trending in the right direction. The Supra had great pace in race trim, and the whole Walkinshaw crew were just incredible all weekend. We'll take the positives into Perth and keep pushing.

Cheers,
Chaz