Shane van Gisbergen has narrowed the lead of fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin, after the latest round of the of the Supercars Eseries.
McLaughlin's advantage over van Gisbergen is down to 46 points, after three races at the Circuit of the Americas, with round honours going to Aussie Anton De Pasquale.
For the second week running, van Gisbergen and De Pasquale were locked in another tight duel.
At Belgium's iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit last week, van Gisbergen collided with de Pasquale on the final corner of a race, with the Kiwi storming home to secure victory.
Upon further review, van Gisbergen was later stripped of the race win.
The battle intensified this week, with van Gisbergen beating De Pasquale in the first race, before that finishing order was reversed for the 20-lap finale.
"Me and Shane have been nose-to-tail for a couple of weeks now, so it's kind of whoever starts in front and leads to turn one wins the race," says De Pasquale.
"That was the aim for the night. Obviously, he came at me a bit at the end there and had a dive.
"I think he knows, no matter what happened, whether he took me out, he had enough of a gap to redress it and get to the line.
"He knows what's going on, it was all a bit of fun."
McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris won the second race.
"It was good fun," says Norris. "After the drive through [in race one], I needed to take advantage of starting [at the front] and going for the win in this race.
"I had decent pace, it was a nice little win."
McLaughlin claimed third-place finishes in races one and three respectively, but was involved in a multi-car pile-up at the start of the reversed-grid second race, where he finished 18th.
Next week's seventh round will feature races at Charlotte and Daytona's road course.
Supercars officials are expected to release an updated schedule for real-life racing next week.
Only one round was complete when the season was stopped, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Whether a revised New Zealand round will feature on the calendar also remains uncertain, although Speedcafe.com reports the Hampton Downs round is expected to feature.
