It started in rain and ended with a car bursting into flame on pit lane.
Sunday’s 200km Supercars race in Townsville certainly didn’t lack drama.
Holden’s Shane Van Gisbergen outlasted the conditions and his rivals to win the race ahead of Ford’s Fabian Coulthard with pole-sitter Cameron Waters in third.
It is just Holden’s second race win of the year and ends championship leader Scott McLaughlin’s six-race winning streak.
McLaughlin was an early casualty as a Supercars race started in wet conditions for the first time in Townsville.
He came to grief in a turn-one collision with Holden’s David Reynolds, the incident puncturing a rear tyre and forcing the 26-year-old to pit.
McLaughlin would eventually come home 11th with his championship lead to Coulthard cut to 292 points.
The wet weather threw race plans out of the window and 20 laps later Jamie Whincup – a 10-time race winner in Townsville – went too far on to a slippery painted kerb and lost control of his Commodore.
The seven-time champion was just a passenger as his car careered into a wall and he was forced to retire from the race.
The resulting safety car led to a quick move by Penrite Racing, who called in Anton de Pasquale to strap on a set of wet weather tyres before anyone in the field.
As the weather worsened, de Pasquale opened up a 35 second lead as the rest of the field came in to put on wets.
Unfortunately for the Holden driver, he had to relinquish his advantage to meet the minimum required fuel load of 120 litres.
That allowed Van Gisbergen to take the lead with de Pasquale coming home fourth.
But the action was far from done, with Garry Jacobson’s Holden catching fire on the track and forcing him to shut down his car and bring out the safety car.
When Nick Percat then came in to pit, his fuel line ruptured and his pit area and rear of his car caught fire as he drove away.
Members of every garage ran out to put out the blaze and remarkably Percat climbed back into his car after the fire was extinguished to finish the race in 19th position.
The next event of the Supercars calendar will be the Ipswich SuperSprint at Queensland Raceway from July 26.
