Van Gisbergen charges to victory

Like Saturday's race winner Rick Kelly, van Gisbergen started only 12th on the grid, but made rapid progress up the order and then pounced on the leaders in the closing stages - although unlike Kelly, van Gisbergen did not require any carnage ahead to pull off his victory.

The early laps had seen Garry Rogers Motorsport's Lee Holdsworth swiftly move into the lead as he chose to use his set of soft tyres in the first stint. Championship leader Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight Holden) was on the same strategy, but fell from second to fifth at the start, allowing Holdsworth to make a break as Whincup regained the lost ground.

He was back up to second by the time the safety car came out on lap 12, following an engine failure for Jason Bright that caused an oil spill and a series of incidents. As alternate pit strategies played out, Will Davison briefly led before Holdsworth and Whincup fought their way back to the front, with Whincup finally claiming the lead just before half-distance.

Going into the closing stages, Whincup led Holdsworth, Craig Lowndes, polesitter Mark Winterbottom and van Gisbergen, with all bar the lead pair now onto their soft tyres. Lowndes then took second from Holdsworth just before a heavy crash for Karl Reindler prompted another safety car on lap 58.

At the restart with seven laps to go, Lowndes pounced on team-mate Whincup for the lead, and the latter was swiftly pushed back down to fourth behind Winterbottom and van Gisbergen as well.

Two laps later van Gisbergen sliced past Winterbottom for second and then quickly closed in on Lowndes, passing him for the lead with two and a half laps to go. He then held off Lowndes, Winterbottom and Tim Slade to claim the victory.

Whincup and Holdsworth faded right back to sixth and 15th, as Russell Ingall came through to fifth.

Saturday winner Kelly was only 20th, having been one of many drivers to go off on Bright's oil.

Results - 69 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Shane van Gisbergen  Stone Brothers Ford  1h27m04.3716s
 2.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden          + 0.8939s
 3.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                 + 1.7301s
 4.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/SBR Ford       + 2.1758s
 5.  Russell Ingall       Paul Morris Holden       + 5.0776s
 6.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden          + 7.2026s
 7.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                 + 7.8132s
 8.  Alex Davison         Stone Brothers Ford     + 10.7096s
 9.  Steven Johnson       Dick Johnson Ford       + 11.3049s
10.  Jason Bargwanna      Brad Jones Holden       + 12.9899s
11.  Paul Dumbrell        Rod Nash/FPR Ford       + 13.1486s
12.  Michael Caruso       Garry Rogers Holden     + 14.7346s
13.  James Moffat         Dick Johnson Ford       + 16.0662s
14.  Steve Owen           Paul Morris Holden      + 16.0936s
15.  Lee Holdsworth       Garry Rogers Holden     + 18.1594s
16.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Ford              + 20.6097s
17.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Ford          + 24.7720s
18.  Fabian Coulthard     Walkinshaw Holden       + 27.8393s
19.  Dean Fiore           Triple F Ford           + 29.0786s
20.  Rick Kelly           Kelly Holden            + 39.6481s
21.  David Reynolds       Kelly Holden            + 45.5042s
22.  Greg Murphy          Kelly Holden               + 1 lap
23.  Warren Luff          Dumbrell Holden            + 1 lap
24.  James Courtney       HRT Holden                + 6 laps
25.  Karl Reindler        Britek/BJR Holden         + 6 laps
26.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden               + 13 laps

Retirements:

     Todd Kelly           Kelly Holden               45 laps
     Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden          10 laps