There has been a wild start to the NTI Townsville 500 with Conor Somers flipping his car in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge.
Somers’ Porsche was sent into a violent rollover during qualifying at the Reid Park Street Circuit on Saturday.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Conor Somers flips car in NTI Townsville 500.
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The red flag was brought out after the high-impact crash at Turn 10 which stunned commentators.
“Oh wow … that is extraordinary,” they said.
“That is a heavy impact (crash) to move that concrete barrier and that armco (barrier) … that’s a huge force.
“That is phenomenal. I don’t think if I’ve ever seen anything like that in a cup car being launched.”
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Somers’ car was on the outside of Ross McGregor when he made contact through the Turn 10 sweeper.
The car then launched in the air in dramatic scenes and skidded along the barriers.
In the aftermath, the car ended up upside down with radiator fluid pouring out of it.
But Somers was able to walk away.
“That’s a very fast part of the race track,” the commentators said.
“There’s been a couple of big crashes at that point.
“It’s such a high-speed bit of road … there’s a lot of energy going through the cars at that point.”
The session was immediately suspended and officials quickly replaced damaged catch fencing.
Later Porsche Motorsport in Australia issued a statement saying: “Conor Somers is OK following an enormous accident at Turn 10 that ultimately ended the session early this morning.”
A shortened Sprint Challenge session followed and pole position went to — for the first time — Hamish Fitzsimmons.
Will Davison on Townsville Supercars provisional pole by one thousandth of a second
In Supercars, Will Davison roared home late to claim provisional pole for race 13 in Townsville.
The Dick Johnson Racing driver beat out Cam Waters — the fastest man in practice — by one thousandth of a second in qualifying on Saturday as Fords claimed the top-five times.
Davison, 41, now has a golden opportunity to convert his 1:13.411 lap time into his first ever pole position.
Waters’ Tickford Racing teammate Thomas Randle came in third and Chaz Mostert and Anton De Pasquale rounded out the top five.
Jack Le Brocq was the fastest of the Chevrolets in sixth after securing the second-fastest lap in Friday’s practice sessions.
Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner and Bryce Fullwood also earned top-10 shootout honours, as did Matthew Payne of Grove Racing.
Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney snuck into the shootout in 10th, at 0.187 seconds off the pace, but teammate and championship leader Will Brown missed out in 13th.
Reigning champion Brodie Kostecki will also be watching on from the pit after just missing out in 11th place.
Race 13 of the season begins at 2.40pm local time (watch it live and free on Seven and 7plus) following the top-10 duel for grid positions.
In his first outing in the Super2 series this season, Jack Perkins claimed pole position in his Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang.
– With AAP
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