The Bend Supercars: Van Gisbergen, McLaughlin split Sunday wins

The Triple Eight driver set up the win in Sunday's opener with a bold move at the first corner, running a high line to sweep past the pair of fast-starting Penske Fords.

He then went long in the first stint, not taking his mandatory service until Lap 14.

That meant being undercut by both Chaz Mostert and McLaughlin, who had stopped on laps five and six respectively, but van Gisbergen had the benefit of new rear rubber for the run home.

That helped him pass McLaughlin on his out-lap, before taking the lead off Mostert at the start of Lap 15.

From there he was able to cruise to a 1.1s win.

Andre Heimgartner ended up second thanks to a brilliant move on both Mostert and McLaughlin on Lap 15.

McLaughlin finished third, right behind Heimgartner, while Mostert struggled with tyre life in the second stint and dropped all the way to 11th by the finish.

That paved the way for Fabian Coulthard, who had run third early in the race, to charge home in fourth, making it an all-Kiwi top four - a first in Supercars history.

Jamie Whincup, meanwhile, dropped 50 points in the title battle with McLaughlin thanks to a lowly 17th place finish.

The seven-time champion was making decent progress from 11th on the grid, only to lose a heap of time during his stop due to an air spike issue.

In the final race of the weekend, McLaughlin firmly took control of the Supercars title fight thanks to a comfortable win at The Bend.

The Penske Ford driver was untroubled across the 24-lap journey, helped by having team-mate Coulthard slot into second at the start.

From there the Shell Mustangs were able to control the race, McLaughlin running two even 12-lap stints in what ended up as a 1.8s win in a Penske one-two.

Whincup limited the damage to his title hopes with third place, his only appearance on the podium for the weekend.

It didn't come easy, though, Whincup needing to overhaul a rapid Anton De Pasquale - who started all the way down in 18th - in the second stint.

He needed two cracks at clearing the Erebus Holden, the first resulting in contact between the pair at Turn 6. Whincup redressed the position before getting the job done two laps from home.

McLaughlin's win, however, meant Whincup dropped points in all three races, the gap now 215 with four races, worth a total of 600 points, to go.

Van Gisbergen had a shocker in the final heat, the Race 2 winner sparking an early pile-up when he tipped Andre Heimgartner into a spin.

That led to heavy contact for the likes of James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom, those two drivers taken out of the race.

Van Gisbergen was hit with a 15-second time penalty for his efforts, 14th the best he could manage by the finish.

Heimgartner, meanwhile, recovered well from the van Gisbergen hiccup, charging back to seventh behind De Pasquale, Cam Waters and Scott Pye.

The Bend Supercars Results - Races 2 & 3