Arriving at a new circuit for Nick Percat is quite the novelty, as this was the first time he would race on the technical 2.85km circuit at Reid Park in the heart of the city of Townsville.

Practice on Friday brought its usual dramas, with the Fujitsu series bulging with 26 cars on the grid, 5 of those being Main Game drivers jumping back into the Development Series to gain miles prior to the endurance events.

"We struggled a little in both Practice sessions with a lack of grip, however that may be due to the tyre sets we are running in practice, so we will make some changes for Qualifying, and see how we go as we didn't see any point in running new tyres this early in the weekend" said Percat.

Qualifying was early Saturday morning, and Percat took the challenge of the vastly more experienced drivers and newer equipment in his stride to put his VZ Commodore on the 4^th row of the grid in a super tight session. "Pretty happy with 8^th as if you had asked me before the weekend, I would have said that would be like pole position for me!! So we will see how we go from here, but on current form I'd say we are looking ok as we always race better than we qualify" commented Percat on returning to the garage.

Race 1 held in ideal conditions in the middle of the day had Percat get a good start, and played it safe on the run down into turn 2. However in the braking zone another driver sought to pass numerous cars on the inside of the already inside Percat!

With the ever predictable crash taking out Luke Youlden and Marcus Marshall on the spot, it was Percat left with nowhere to go but park up and hope the hit from behind didn't come... The hit did come! Luckily with only minor damage, he struggled to re-join the race, now last on the road.

With a huge job of fighting his way back through the field in the remaining laps, Percat passed car after car, finally finishing in 10^th, an amazing effort indeed, made more amazing that for the following race he would start 1^st due to the top 10 results being reversed for race 2.

"Wow that was a bit of an adventure!! When Rod Jane came flying down my inside I thought this could all end badly, but to recover to 10^th, and make the pass for 10^th on the final corner was pretty amazing" smiled Percat.

Race 2 early Sunday morning would be a telling race for Percat, as he clearly had great race pace, so starting off Pole it would be great to see if the others could catch him.

Getting a great start, it was Percat who led the early laps, until the field closed up after a safety car to remove the car of Marcus Marshall. In the resuming battle with Tim Blanchard, Steve Owen managed to slip through to take the win with Percat coming home in 2^nd.

"Fantastic result after what happened in race 1, so our weekend is now back on track with us starting pretty high up for the final race of the weekend" said Percat.

For Race 3 Nick Percat started on the 2^nd row of the grid for the all-important final race. In a race that turned out to be survival of the fittest, Percat at one stage running 2^nd with only 3 laps to go finally got passed by David Reynolds in the Bundaberg Red VE to finish the race 3^rd, an amazing achievement placing him 4^th for the round barely missing out on another podium!

"Talk about action packed, it was all happening out there!... I really set about driving to the lap time this car can achieve, but for a few laps it looked like I was closing down on the leaders so I pressed on for a few, but by that stage my tyres had given up all the speed left in them, so I settled for 3^rd" said a clearly delighted Percat.

Nick Percat now sits 3^rd in the Fujitsu Series Championship, a stunning performance from a rookie in arguably one of the oldest cars in the field!

Once again Percat looks to be out of budget for the remaining rounds in 2010, and unless a significant sponsor is found in the coming weeks, he won't be on the grid for the Bathurst round in October.

To watch the TV coverage of the Townsville round, tune into network 7 this Saturday at 1230pm for the hour long highlights package. (Check your local guides)