Supercars Sydney: De Pasquale and Whincup share wins, van Gisbergen penalised

A poor first race for Whincup, finishing 25th after a puncture and a subsequent second stop, allowed points leader Shane van Gisbergen to extend his advantage, but that was trimmed again when the Triple Eight driver was penalised in race three and finished back in 23rd.

Dick Johnson Racing driver De Pasquale, who had won two of the three races held at SMP last weekend in the first Supercars race meeting held in three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, had taken soft tyres for the start of race two in drying conditions following a downpour.

Fellow front-row starter Shane van Gisbergen went for hards and while the points leader got the better start to lead on the first lap, poleman De Pasquale quickly snuck by and bolted into the lead.

The duo then staged an intriguing strategic battle, De Pasquale the hare needing to take hards later in the race, while van Gisbergen could tick off laps and wait to switch to the softs.

Van Gisbergen dropped around eight seconds to De Pasquale across the first stint, before taking his stop on lap 13.

De Pasquale stayed out on the softs until lap 23, emerging from his stop less than two seconds ahead.

But while van Gisbergen had the faster compound, the 10 laps they'd already covered meant they were past their best. That meant a new set of hards was enough for De Pasquale to retain and then increase the lead, his final winning margin more than eight seconds.

Anton De Pasquale, Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang

Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics

However, van Gisbergen still extended his points lead as a puncture and subsequent second stop left team-mate and closest contender Jamie Whincup way down in 25th.

Tickford's James Courtney made good headway from sixth on the grid, using a similar strategy to De Pasquale to round out the podium as Will Davison (DJR) and Scott Pye (Team 18) finished fourth and fifth.

Whincup's fortunes turned for race three, held in the dark with poor visibility thanks to the spray under lights.

A fast start from the third row of the grid proved decisive for Whincup, the seven-time series champ bolting into a lead he'd hold to the end when the race was declared with seven laps to go.

Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Bryce Fullwood launched from eighth to second, but was subsequently hit with a pitlane penalty for a jumped start.

There was more lap one action further back in the pack, Brodie Kostecki and Courtney both firing off at Turn 3 to cause a six-lap Safety Car.

The restart provided more drama, as fourth-placed van Gisbergen sailed off the road at Turn 1. He managed to bounce over the gravel and continue at the back of the field, an impressive charge over the laps that followed helping him back up to 12th.

However he was then slapped with a drive-though for passing De Pasquale before the control line at the restart – only for Triple Eight to successfully argue that De Pasquale had backed off. The penalty was revoked, only for van Gisbergen to then cop another one when his car was dropped with the rattle gun on the right rear during his stop.

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Photo by: Edge Photographics

At the front of the field, Whincup continued to lead ahead of De Pasquale, while Fullwood's team-mate Chaz Mostert – coming from the back row after being excluded from qualifying – made great progress by running long.

A lap 21 safety car, called when Jake Kostecki sent his Matt Stone Racing entry into the wall, then played into Mostert's hands, a free stop helping him protect his position on the road.

That safety car eventually became a red flag with seven laps to go, before race control opted to call the race off. That left Whincup as the winner, for the 124th time in a Supercars career that will come to an end after the Bathurst 1000, from De Pasquale and Mostert.

Nick Percat and Tim Slade finished fourth and fifth, the latter dealing without a wiper for most of the race.

Subbing for the suspended David Reynolds at Kelly Grove Racing, Luke Youlden took a brace of 11th places.

Supercars Sydney Race 2 results (32 laps)

Cla	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	-
2	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	8.303	8.304
3	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	17.504	17.504
4	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	17.824	17.824
5	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	19.714	19.715
6	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	23.601	23.602
7	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	28.704	28.704
8	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	30.043	30.044
9	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	31.765	31.765
10	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	32.111	32.112
11	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	34.902	34.903
12	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	35.619	35.620
13	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	43.102	43.103
14	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB	43.573	43.574
15	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	45.509	45.509
16	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	51.194	51.195
17	Luke Youlden	Ford Mustang GT	51.273	51.274
18	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	52.973	52.974
19	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	53.395	53.396
20	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	59.438	59.439
21	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	59.664	59.665
22	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	1'01.027	1'01.027
23	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	1'05.212	1'05.212
24	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1'07.286	1'07.287
25	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	1'21.205	1'21.205
26	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
View full results

Supercars Sydney Race 3 results (23 laps)

Cla		Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1		Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	-
2		Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	1.190	1.190
3		Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	2.437	2.438
4		Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	3.414	3.414
5		Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	4.520	4.521
6		Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	5.262	5.262
7		Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	6.265	6.265
8		Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	7.121	7.121
9		Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	7.747	7.747
10		Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	9.277	9.277
11		Luke Youlden	Ford Mustang GT	10.066	10.067
12		Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	10.478	10.478
13		Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	11.310	11.310
14		Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	13.147	13.147
15		Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	13.969	13.969
16		Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	14.695	14.696
17		Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	15.752	15.752
18		Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	16.661	16.662
19		Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB	17.531	17.531
20		Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	18.639	18.639
21		Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	20.128	20.128
22		Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	21.814	21.814
23		Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	24.447	24.448
		Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB
		Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB
		James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT
View full results