MOTORSPORT: Giz scoops Darwin Supercars
Shane van Gisbergen extends Supercars title lead in Top EndThe only people who could beat Shane van Gisbergen at the Darwin Triple Crown were his own pit crew.
The runaway championship leader did everything right in the Top End and should have swept the latest leg of the Repco Supercars Championship, but was denied a hat-trick of wins when the left-rear wheel on his Red Bull Ampol team’s Commodore jammed during a Saturday sprint.
He could do no better than 13th as Chaz Mostert scored his second win of the season, but recovered for back-to-back victories on Sunday to take his total to eight wins from 14 starts in season 2021.
Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale did all they could to stop the SvG train, topping the three qualifying sessions to extend Shell V-Power Racing’s pole sweep to five, but they never got close once the racing began.
De Pasquale crashed at the first turn on Saturday in a giant melee while Davison was out-dragged in both Sunday races as SvG got better grip on the cleaner side of the course.
“I don’t know what’s happened this weekend. I got three beauties. Just fluked it three times,” he said.
Van Gisbergen was deeply unhappy as he battled brake troubles and a wobbly front splitter during Friday practice, then had his disastrous pitstop on Saturday, but said everything turned around for Sunday.
“Right from this morning you could tell there was an increased presence in the garage – we were hungrier than ever after some not-so-good results yesterday. Everyone just wanted to have a good day.
“We had our problems fixed from yesterday, and everyone was super focused. Right from the team briefing this morning, we made good calls on the car, which really helped us all day.
“We didn’t quite have the speed of Will [Davison] in qualifying, but I knew our car would be good during the race.”
The first of three 38-lap sprints for the Triple Crown was a mess after the first-corner crash, but Mostert benefitted most as he led Cam Waters and Nick Percat to the podium.
“To start eighth and finish first is like a dream come true,” Mostert said.
“I lucked out and came of turn one in third. Probably lucky we started on the fourth row.”
The luck was all flowing for van Gisbergen on Sunday, despite Davison’s speed in his Mustang.
He romped home in the first race of the day and was so far ahead in the finale that he spent most of the final lap doing sideways drifts for the crowd in his Commodore.
“Kicking myself. A little annoyed with myself, but a solid day,” said Davison.
“I just haven’t got it together when it counted.”
Whincup, too, was unhappy at the end of Race 3.
“I was fuming after the start. I got absolutely cleaned up at turn one. I cannot remember the last time someone has just opened the wheel up like that and just fed me off,” said Whincup.
The Supercars championship continues at Townsville on July 9-11, where construction work is well underway despite recent COVID-19 threats that had teams using temporary bases in NSW ahead of Darwin.
Darwin Triple Crown results:
Race 1 – 38 laps
Chaz Mostert — Commodore
Cam Waters — Mustang
Nick Percat — Commodore
Race 2 – 38 laps
Shane van Gisbergen — Commodore
Will Davison — Mustang
Jamie Whincup — Commodore
Race 3 – 38 laps
Shane Van Gisbergen — Commodore
Will Davison — Mustang
Jamie Whincup — Commodore
2021 Repco Supercars Championship standings:
1. Van Gisbergen — 1361 points
2. Whincup — 1140
3. Mostert — 1131
4. Davison — 1087
5. Waters — 1064
6. Winterbottom — 861
7. Percat — 827
8. De Pasquale — 762
9. Courtney — 744
10. Brown — 741
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