Kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen has pulled through with a clutch late win in the first race of the Perth SuperSprint.
After starting on pole, the two-time defending Supercars champion trailed title frontrunner Brodie Kostecki for most of the 42-lap race, before overtaking with a lap to go to claim the checkered flag at Wanneroo Raceway.
The win is van Gisbergen's third of the season and narrows the margin to Kostecki at the top of the standings. Van Gisbergen is currently in third place, with Chaz Mostert in second.
He may have some questions to answer on Sunday, after receiving a bad sportsmanship flag for contact during his joust with Kostecki.
"I got a bad start," said van Gisbergen. "I knew my car was good, but couldn't quite get through and we had a pretty awesome battle in the middle, but we were losing time to the people who pitted.
"At the end, our stop was awesome and then I drove through to catch those guys, so that was great."
David Reynolds filled third on the podium.
The round will finish with two more sprint races on Sunday, starting 3:45pm (NZ time).
