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Bathurst 1000 Supercars: Van Gisbergen takes thrilling maiden with Tander

Shane van Gisbergen is finally a Bathurst 1000 winner, after he and Garth Tander took a thrilling Great Race victory in Holden's final event as a factory team in Supercars

Van Gisbergen took control of the race shortly before the mid-way point, using a short burst of rain to wrangle a lead that the #97 would effectively hold for the rest of the afternoon.

But it was not a straightforward win, as two restarts in the last nine laps kept Cam Waters in the game right until the finish.

However, thanks to a brilliant drive after the final restart - van Gisbergen setting the fastest lap of the race on the second last tour - there was one last Bathurst win for the Holden Racing Team.

"It's just awesome," said van Gisbergen.

"The last few laps were really rough with the safety cars but the team did a faultless job, the car got better all weekend.

"Thanks to Garth, he did an awesome job - I just wish mum and dad were here.

"I knew as long as I got through Turn 2 [on the restarts] I'd be fine.

"Each time [Waters] got pretty close, but I got through Turn 2 with good grip and knew I'd be OK.

"But man, all those last three stints were qualifying laps. Just awesome."

Scott McLaughlin had led the early stages of the race but the Penske Ford driver began to struggle as the rain came, while van Gisbergen surged into the lead.

The second half of the race started with the co-drivers completing their stints, Tander leading Tim Slade (in for McLaughlin), Will Davison and Tony D'Alberto.

That was until a safety car on lap 97 of 161 kicked off the next round of stops.

While Tander, Davison and D'Alberto were done for the day and could hand over to their respective primary drivers, Slade hadn't quite hit his minimum target - which meant another stint, against the aces.

That meant the #17 dropped to the back of the lead group, Waters passing Slade for second at the restart, before Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard worked their way ahead too.

On lap 115, with Slade in fifth and 15 seconds off leader van Gisbergen, the #17 pitted for McLaughlin to take over for the run home.

Van Gisbergen continued to lead Waters and the two leaders made their final stops together on lap 141, van Gisbergen coming in with a 3s gap, but leaving with barely a couple of tenths to his name.

Part of the difference was an aggressive pit entry from Waters, while van Gisbergen was slightly delayed on the way out as Coulthard came across his pit bay.

Just as van Gisbergen reclaimed the upper hand in the battle, the race was neutralised again, two separate incidents bringing out the safety car.

Van Gisbergen successfully got through the restart with six laps to go, but again it was short-lived. Within a lap the yellow flags were flying again, courtesy of Zane Goddard whacking the wall at McPhillamy Park.

That meant one last safety car with three laps to go, which is where van Gisbergen really shined.

He set the fastest final sector on the restart lap, before logging the fastest time of the whole race on the penultimate tour.

That sealed the deal, van Gisbergen crossing the line for his first Bathurst win, and Tander's fourth - on the 20th anniversary of his maiden triumph with Garry Rogers Motorsport back in 2000.

Waters and Davison were second, as Mostert crossed the line third.

The Penske Fords were next, Coulthard/D'Alberto leading McLaughlin/Slade, while Scott Pye and Dean Fiore were sixth.

Elsewhere, there was misery for seven-time series champion Jamie Whincup, who hit the wall at The Cutting early on while battling Brodie Kostecki for fourth place.

Bathurst 1000 result - 161 laps

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 S.Gisbergen, G.Tander Triple Eight Holden 6h10m56.1143s
2 C.Waters, W.Davison Tickford Ford 0.8663s
3 C.Mostert, W.Luff Walkinshaw Holden 1.6089s
4 F.Coulthard, T.D'Alberto DJR Penske Ford 2.1617s
5 S.McLaughlin, T.Slade DJR Penske Ford 2.7113s
6 S.Pye, D.Fiore Schwerkolt Holden 3.9690s
7 L.Holdsworth, M.Caruso Tickford Ford 4.7338s
8 M.Winterbottom, J.Golding Schwerkolt Holden 6.1381s
9 A.De Pasquale, B.Kostecki Erebus Holden 7.6448s
10 J.Courtney, B.Feeney Tickford Ford 7.7157s
11 A.Heimgartner, D.O'Keeffe Kelly Ford 8.0904s
12 A.Davison, J.Webb Sydney Holden 9.1442s
13 M.Jones, T.Blanchard Tim Blanchard Holden 9.4580s
14 J.Le Brocq, J.Moffat Tickford Ford 11.4712s
15 D.Reynolds, W.Brown Erebus Holden 1 Lap
16 C.Pither, S.Owen Sydney Holden 2 Laps
17 R.Kelly, D.Wood Kelly Ford 17 Laps
18 N.Percat, T.Randle Brad Jones Holden 28 Laps
19 T.Everingham, J.Ojeda GRM Holden 40 Laps
- J.Kostecki, Z.Goddard Matt Stone Holden Retirement
- J.Smith, J.Perkins Brad Jones Holden Retirement
- B.Fullwood, K.Kostecki Walkinshaw Holden Retirement
- G.Jacobson, D.Russell Matt Stone Holden Retirement
- T.Hazelwood, J.Boys Brad Jones Holden Retirement
- J.Whincup, C.Lowndes Triple Eight Holden Retirement

Final Supercars drivers' standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Scott McLaughlin 2576
2 Cameron Waters 2125
3 Shane van Gisbergen 2095
4 Jamie Whincup 2049
5 Chaz Mostert 1958
6 Fabian Coulthard 1800
7 Nick Percat 1743
8 Anton De Pasquale 1637
9 Scott Pye 1586
10 Mark Winterbottom 1566
11 Lee Holdsworth 1553
12 David Reynolds 1492
13 James Courtney 1476
14 Andre Heimgartner 1444
15 Jack Le Brocq 1396
16 Rick Kelly 1316
17 Todd Hazelwood 1181
18 Bryce Fullwood 1092
19 Macauley Jones 980
20 Chris Pither 866
21 Garry Jacobson 833
22 Jack Smith 812
23 Alex Davison 794
24 Will Davison 507
25 Zane Goddard 438
26 Garth Tander 300
27 Jake Kostecki 290
28 Warren Luff 258
29 Tony D'Alberto 240
30 Tim Slade 222
31 Dean Fiore 204
32 Michael Caruso 192
33 James Golding 180
34 Brodie Kostecki 168
35 Broc Feeney 156
36 Dylan O'Keeffe 144
37 Jonathon Webb 138
38 Tim Blanchard 132
39 James Moffat 126
40 William Brown 120
41 Steve Owen 114
42 Dale Wood 108
43 Tom Randle 102
44 Tyler Everingham 96
45 Jayden Ojeda 96
46 Craig Lowndes 0
47 Jack Perkins 0
48 Jordan Boys 0
49 David Russell 0
50 Kurt Kostecki 0

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