Sydney Supercars: Van Gisbergen dominates race 2

The Kiwi was only headed in the first few laps of the race before taking control of the 36-lap affair.

He expertly managed his tyres on the high-deg Sydney circuit to come home comfortably ahead of Andre Heimgartner and Anton De Pasquale.

The win moves van Gisbergen into third in the standings, 13 points ahead of teammate Broc Feeney and 54 behind leader Brodie Kostecki. Will Brown is still second, 41 points behind Kostecki.

Having fumbled the lead from pole last night, Heimgartner made a perfect getaway from the outside of the front row on Sunday, using the gripper side of the track to charge into an early lead, although his first-lap advantage was as good as it got.

With van Gisbergen stalking the Brad Jones Racing Camaro, a change for the lead had a sense of inevitability about it, and the move came on lap four with a clean pass at Turn 6.

By that stage one title contender was already at the back of the field, Brown taking a high-speed excursion through the dirt at the first corner.

The Erebus driver had found himself on the outside of a three-into-one situation with Anton De Pasquale on the inside, and David Reynolds in the middle, as they argued over seventh place.

Shane van Gisbergen in Sydney

De Pasquale was the only one to get through unscathed, both Reynolds and Brown flying off the track and rejoining at the back of the field.

Behind the top two, Feeney and Kostecki were left battling for the final podium position. After Kostecki muscled past on lap 15, Feeney pitted for fresh tyres to try the undercut. 

Kostecki waited until lap 18 to make his stop and dropped behind Feeney, as well as the early stopping De Pasquale and Bryce Fullwood in the order.

Heimgartner made his stop on lap 19, he too resuming behind Feeney and De Pasquale.

Van Gisbergen responded with a stop of his own the following lap, although his advantage was enough to ensure he resumed in the effective lead.

With teammate Feeney now next in the queue, the job was straightforward from that point on for van Gisbergen - the Kiwi having established a three-second lead by the time that Heimgartner filtered back into P2. 

After extending his lead to 5.2 seconds by the chequered flag, van Gisbergen quipped after the race that he had wanted at least a five-second lead following his penalty at the end of yesterday's race.

"I have to thank the team so much," said van Gisbergen.

"They haven't given up on me. I've been struggling a bit but they've rebuilt this car [and] changed the chassis, they've done so much work.

"It's so cool to be back here [in victory lane]. Back on the right track.

"I've never driven so slowly to win a race. At the end [the gap] was three seconds and I thought I better get to five seconds in case they penalise us again."

Heimgartner was a somewhat lonely second, while Feeney and De Pasquale staged an epic late battle for third place.

De Pasquale was rapid across the second stint, closing in on third-placed Feeney as the laps counted down.

He then got through on the final lap of the race to complete the podium and win the Mustang Cup on a day where just three Fords made the top 10. That dropped Feeney back to fourth ahead of Bryce Fullwood.

Kostecki never really recovered the ground lost around the stops and even lost more in the closing stages as he battled clutch dramas. That dropped him back to eighth behind Ford pair Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert.

After his lap-one woes, Brown was able to work his way back to 14th at the finish. Reynolds couldn't make the same progress, the Grove Racing driver finishing 20th.

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data

     

Driver Info		Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Retirement	Points
1	S. van Gisbergen Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering		Chevrolet	36
2	A. Heimgartner Andre Heimgartner Brad Jones Racing		Chevrolet	36	5.2275
3	A. De Pasquale Anton De Pasquale Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang GT	36	15.6663
4	B. Feeney Broc Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering		Chevrolet	36	16.0982
5	B. Fullwood Bryce Fullwood Brad Jones Racing		Chevrolet	36	18.7067
6	C. Waters Cameron Waters Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang GT	36	19.5718
7	C. Mostert Chaz Mostert Walkinshaw Andretti United		Ford Mustang GT	36	20.6820
8	B. Kostecki Brodie Kostecki Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet	36	23.1046
9	M. Winterbottom Mark Winterbottom Team 18		Chevrolet	36	25.5196
10	J. Le Brocq Jack Le Brocq Matt Stone Racing		Chevrolet	36	27.7387
11	S. Pye Scott Pye Team 18		Chevrolet	36	30.4057
12	T. Slade Tim Slade PremiAir Racing		Chevrolet	36	31.5091
13	J. Courtney James Courtney Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang GT	36	35.0350
14	W. Brown Will Brown Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet	36	35.4109
15	J. Smith Jack Smith Brad Jones Racing		Chevrolet	36	37.2835
16	J. Golding James Golding PremiAir Racing		Chevrolet	36	37.4967
17	W. Davison Will Davison Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang GT	36	38.0060
18	M. Jones Macauley Jones Brad Jones Racing		Chevrolet	36	42.0539
19	N. Percat Nick Percat Walkinshaw Andretti United		Ford Mustang GT	36	43.2628
20	D. Reynolds David Reynolds Grove Racing		Ford Mustang GT	36	44.2567
21	T. Hazelwood Todd Hazelwood Blanchard Racing Team		Ford Mustang GT	36	48.2905
22	T. Randle Thomas Randle Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang GT	36	50.3367
23	M. Payne Matthew Payne Grove Racing		Ford Mustang GT	36	51.5007
24	C. Hill Cameron Hill Matt Stone Racing		Chevrolet	36	55.4407
25	D. Fraser Declan Fraser Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang GT	36	1'02.6876
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