Shane van Gisbergen has closed the gap to the Supercars Championship lead with a comprehensive victory at the new Tailem Bend circuit in South Australia.
Van Gisbergen won from virtually start to finish after his Red Bull Holden Racing team team-mate Jamie Whincup got snookered by the only safety car of the race, forcing a double stack in the pits.
The win, ahead of the twin Nissan’s of Rick Kelly and Michael Caruso, puts Van Gisbergen within 41 points in the Championship fight with Shell V-Power Racing’s Scott McLaughlin.
Current Championship leader McLaughlin finished sixth, with the result bringing van Gisbergen to within striking distance of the lead with nine races left in 2018.
The maiden victory at The Bend was his fifth in a row in South Australia, after winning both races at the Adelaide 500 in 2017 and 2018. It was also his fourth win from the past seven races, and eighth top two finish out of the last nine starts.
Van Gisbergen and teammate Whincup started side by side on the front row of the grid and opened a four second lead over the rest of the field in the opening stages, before the Kiwi made his move on the seven-time Champion to claim the lead in the fourth lap.
The comfortable lead for the duo was then cut when Garth Tander’s Commodore suffered an engine problem on Lap 6, which prompted the Safety Car bringing the field back together.
Every team used the Safety Car period for a quick stop in pit lane, but when the Red Bull duo stacked, Whincup was left waiting behind van Gisbergen and lost six places while other cars re-entered the track.
The final race of the weekend, a 200km SuperSprint is Sunday afternoon.
Newshub.
