MOTORSPORT: The Giz seals title with GC dominance

Shane van Gisbergen has sealed his third Repco Supercars Championship with a sweep of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on the streets of Surfers Paradise, extending his record-breaking season to 21 victories.

After a relatively incident-free opening race, a massive pile-up early in the Sunday encounter saw numerous cars eliminated, with all drivers emerging from the mess injury free.

Capping the successful weekend for van Gisbergen, his Red Bull Ampol Racing squad sealed the team’s title with a round to spare.

Perhaps the biggest talking point for the champion is the prospect of a move overseas, with both sports car racing and rallying on his current agenda, while NASCAR is another possibility.

“I would like to say here. If I stay in Supercars, I'll definitely stay with Triple Eight,” said van Gisbergen after wrapping up the title on Saturday.

“I love the team and we have started talking about a new deal, but maybe I'd like to start next year and see what the racing is like.

“The [Gen3] car has potential… hopefully next year it's a better race car.

“I'd love to stay in Supercars, it's close to home.”

After scorching to Saturday’s pole position with a top-10 shootout lap 0.403sec faster than the field, David Reynolds led the field through the early running aboard his Penrite Mustang, before van Gisbergen gained the upper hand on lap 16 of 85.

While the race ran safety car-free, there were still a number of incidents of note.

Andre Heimgartner (R&J Batteries Commodore) retired after engine failure, while Will Brown (Boost Mobile Commodore) clouted the back straight chicane after suffering power steering failure.

Bryce Fullwood (Middy’s Commodore) then smacked the opening chicane fence, before getting rear-ended by the Subway Commodore of James Golding.

Cam Waters’ mathematical title hopes were dashed when he swiped the tyres at the opening chicane, completed a neat 360-degree burnout and continued on without major damage.

Van Gisbergen romped away in the closing stages to win by nearly 17sec, with the battle for the minor placings keeping the bumper crowd engaged until the chequered flag.

Reynolds, who overcame a loose steering wheel early in the race, held on for second from Chaz Mostert (Optus Commodore), and Will Davison (Shell Mustang), who finished with a wet sail after his tardy first pit stop cost him significant time.

Waters rebounded for fifth from Anton De Pasquale (Shell Mustang), then Brodie Kostecki (Boost Commodore), James Courtney (Snowy Rivers Caravans Mustang), Mark Winterbottom (Irwin Commodore), with Nick Percat (NTI Commodore) rounding out the top 10.

Van Gisbergen scorched to the Sunday pole with a margin of 0.3236sec, but trailed Davison at the end of the first lap after a contentious bunch up into the opening chicane.

The race, however, came to a screeching halt on the fourth circuit when Golding lost control at the back chicane, and hit a tyre bundle into the path of Thomas Randle (Castrol Mustang), with the ensuing pile-up seeing around 13 of the 25 cars collected.

When the race restarted, a total of eight cars were sidelined, with SVG soon gaining the upper hand.

The safety car returned to the circuit when Randle’s car cried enough on track with 14 laps remaining, setting up a sprint to the finish, although van Gisbergen wasn’t to be beaten.

Mostert was 2sec adrift at the chequered flag, ahead of Davison, Reynolds, Kostecki, Winterbottom, Waters, who faded late, then Heimgartner, Chris Pither (Coca-Cola Commodore) and Tim Slade (CoolDrive Mustang).

In late drama, Brown was penalised 15sec for tangling with Scott Pye (Alspec Commodore), who was racing under a penalty of his own, which was earned through a restart issue, while De Pasquale was disqualified post-race for running an under-pressured tyre.

The Supercars season concludes on December 1-4 with a return to the VALO Adelaide 500.

Race 1 – 85 laps

Race 2 – 85 laps

Championship points: