Tasmania Supercars: Van Gisbergen takes seventh straight win

It wasn't quite a lights-to-flag win for the Kiwi thanks to a sluggish start from pole position. He was out-dragged to the first corner by Cam Waters, before Jamie Whincup went around the outside on the way into Turn 2.

Van Gisbergen had an immediate answer for his team-mate, easing down the inside of Whincup at the second last corner on the first lap.

He then swiftly ran down Waters, sitting under the lead Mustang's rear wing before a textbook dive into Turn 6 on Lap 9.

Once in front there was no stopping van Gisbergen as he pulled three seconds on the leaders before they started the first round of stops.

He took his own mandatory service on Lap 23 before stretching his advantage to 4.7s by the finish.

Van Gisbergen continues to be unbeaten in 2021 with six straight wins, while that was his seventh on the bounce including last year's Bathurst 1000.

He's just the third driver to win seven consecutive races alongside Whincup and Craig Lowndes.

"It was a bad [start] and then Jamie pulled a nice move and got me," said van Gisbergen.

"I did some big bombs at the end of the straight and got them back. That was fun racing at the start. Then I just tried to build a gap so I could manage it. 

"We've burnt up our rears, which puts us in a bit of a spot for tomorrow. We'll be fine, just one of the stints tomorrow we'll struggle. We'll have to pick which one."

Whincup got through on Waters at Turn 6 on Lap 13 in a hairy move that saw Chaz Mostert follow him through with his front tyres locked. 

Once in front he had to pace to ease away from the rest of the pack and set up a comfortable Triple Eight one-two.

Mostert and Waters were both jumped by Dick Johnson Racing pair Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison in the stops, the Shell Mustangs pitting early to get an undercut.

Mostert was able to get one of those spots back, passing Davison in the second stint, but had no answer for De Pasquale who looked after his tyres and took a well-deserved first podium in DJR colours. 

"The deg was quite good," he said. "I think we pitted at the perfect time for that race with the cloud cover coming at the end. I'm happy to be on the podium, the first one with the Shell V-Power Racing guys."

Mostert was fourth ahead of Davison and Waters, followed by Team 18 pair Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye. 

Erebus rookies Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki rounded out the Top 10.

Van Gisbergen's series lead is now 153 points over Whincup, while he has a full round up his sleeve over everyone up to seventh place. 

Race results:

Pos	#	Driver	Car	Gap
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB
2	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	4.7420
3	11	Anton de Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	9.7099
4	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	10.2019
5	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	10.9043
6	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	12.9397
7	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	14.3755
8	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	14.5285
9	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	19.0593
10	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	22.6285
11	44	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	22.9817
12	5	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	24.8565
13	34	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	25.4946
14	14	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	29.6693
15	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	34.4436
16	26	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	35.1936
17	3	Timothy Slade	Ford Mustang GT	37.0984
18	35	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	38.1940
19	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	38.5965
20	22	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	41.4134
21	19	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB	41.6867
22	7	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	1 lap
23	2	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
24	8	Nicholas Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	8 laps