Tasmania Supercars: Van Gisbergen dominates to complete clean sweep

The Kiwi was forced to come from the second row of the grid for Race 3, after having what looked to be a pole lap in qualifying earlier in the day ruined by a clash with Tim Slade.

That job was made slightly easier on just the second lap of the race when early leader Jack Le Brocq, driving a hastily-repaired Holden following a Race 2 shunt, locked up at the hairpin.

That elevated van Gisbergen to second behind new leader Will Davison, who immediately came under fire from the Red Bull Holden. It took just a lap for van Gisbergen to find a way a through with a forceful move at Turn 6. 

Davison was then left to scrap with team-mate Anton De Pasquale and Matt Stone Racing driver Todd Hazelwood, De Pasquale eventually emerging in second place. In a bid to undercut weekend-long form man van Gisbergen, Dick Johnson Racing opted to pit De Pasquale on lap 9.

But van Gisbergen had enough pace that he was able to keep going until lap 23, take his mandatory service, and emerge with both the lead and better quality rubber. From there it was a case of managing the gap back to the DJR pair as he took his third win from three races.

"It's pretty awesome," said van Gisbergen.  "I can't thank Ampol Red Bull Racing enough. The car has been good all weekend and Broc [Feeney] has been up there as well. 

"Each race we had to work for it, [there were] some more good passes then, I hope it was good to watch. I'm pumped."

Race winner Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Photo by: Edge Photographics

Van Gisbergen also revealed that he tried to trick DJR into pitting its cars early by reporting a lack of rear grip over the radio. 

"I was screaming over the radio pretending I had no rear and made them pit early and then I just went," he laughed. "Sucked in."

Davison ended up second after running down De Pasquale on better rubber late in the race.

David Reynolds capped off a solid day with a fourth place to go with his Race 2 podium, while Hazelwood ended up the best of the MSR cars in fifth. Cam Waters finished sixth ahead of Mark Winterbottom, Feeney, James Courtney and Nick Percat. 

It was another tough outing for former series leader Chaz Mostert, though, who could manage just 18th. His poor weekend has left him fourth in the standings, the gap to now leader Shane van Gisbergen already 145 points.

Anton De Pasquale is closest to van Gisbergen with a 67-point deficit while Davison is 122 points in arrears. 

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Photo by: Edge Photographics

Van Gisbergen leads Triple Eight team-mate Feeney in Race 2

Earlier on Sunday van Gisbergen led home first-time podium finisher Feeney in a Triple Eight one-two in the second Symmons Plains race.

The race was a straightforward battle of the Red Bulls, with Feeney enjoying two stints in the lead, despite van Gisbergen being in control of the race. The rookie's first go out front came right at the start, Feeney comfortably beating his team-mate off the line to get the run through Turns 1 and 2.

Any early advantage was quickly snuffed out, though, when Jack Le Brocq ran Andre Heimgartner off the road at the final corner on the opening lap. With Le Brocq's car left buried deeply in the fence the safety car was swiftly deployed, before the race was red flagged to repair the fence.

When the race restarted on lap 7 it was Feeney who continued to lead, although only until van Gisbergen slid underneath him into Turn 6 on that same lap. The Kiwi then settled into a long first stint, running right through to lap 27, some 10 laps longer than Feeney.

That helped Feeney back into the lead thanks to an undercut but, once again, it didn't last long. With a healthy tyre advantage van Gisbergen quickly found his way past at the hairpin, taking over a lead he would hold until the finish.

Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics

Feeney followed him home to make it a Triple Eight one-two and record his first Supercars podium.

It was another first of sorts for Reynolds, whose third place marked Grove Racing's first podium under full Grove family ownership. Reynolds finished just over a second behind Feeney, having shadowed the leading Red Bull Holdens without ever putting them under real pressure.

Mostert completed a remarkable recovery from 16th on the grid, running long to pop up in fourth place, right behind Reynolds, at the finish.

De Pasquale was fifth ahead of Team 18 pair Winterbottom and Scott Pye as Courtney, Lee Holdsworth and Hazelwood rounded out the top 10.

Tasmania Supercars - Race 2 results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	44
2	88	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB	44	2.418
3	26	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	44	3.717
4	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	44	4.238
5	11	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	44	9.012
6	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	44	11.515
7	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	44	14.557
8	5	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	44	17.431
9	10	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	44	17.698
10	35	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	44	19.321
11	2	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	44	21.482
12	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	44	23.704
13	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	44	23.896
14	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	44	24.666
15	3	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	44	26.739
16	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	44	26.966
17	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	44	45.484
18	14	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	43
19	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	43
20	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	37
	55	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	39
	8	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore ZB	11
	56	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	7
	34	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	0
	76	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	0
View full results

Tasmania Supercars - Race 3 results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	44
2	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	44	1.188
3	11	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	44	2.783
4	26	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	44	3.197
5	35	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	44	5.994
6	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	44	7.542
7	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	44	9.679
8	88	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB	44	10.365
9	5	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	44	11.652
10	2	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	44	15.417
11	3	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	44	16.181
12	55	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	44	18.062
13	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	44	18.831
14	10	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	44	22.689
15	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	44	22.775
16	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	44	25.224
17	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	44	28.000
18	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	44	28.115
19	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	44	29.834
20	76	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	44	30.772
21	14	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	44	38.690
22	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	44	41.333
23	34	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	44	42.881
24	8	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore ZB	44	44.193
25	56	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	41
View full results