Supercars Sydney: De Pasquale and Whincup share wins, van Gisbergen penalised
Jamie Whincup won a wild third race of Supercars' second weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park under lights in wet weather, after Anton de Pasquale had swept to race two victory.
Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden ZB Commodore
Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics
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 |
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