MOTORSPORT: van Gisbergen wins NZ thriller

Shane van Gisbergen has further extended his points advantage in the Repco Supercars Championship with a pair of race wins at Pukekohe Park Raceway on the weekend, in the final visit by the series to the historic New Zealand venue.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver had to fight especially hard for victory in the finale, as an incredible scrap with Monster Mustang rival Cam Waters went right down to the wire.

With six laps remaining in the race, the pair tangled in the high-speed run onto the pit straight which somehow did not develop into a significant accident, before van Gisbergen regrouped and successfully took the lead at the same complex three circuits later.

Coming out of the event, van Gisbergen’s win tally for the year now sits at 18, while he currently holds a 525-point advantage over Waters in the standings.

“It’s been a very special day,” said van Gisbergen.

“Seeing the crowd on the hill and the responses when I passed someone – even when I was side-by-side with Cam [Waters] you could see them going wild, it was pretty motivating and made it hard to focus.

“When I passed Cam into the hairpin, the crowd went nuts, and to me, it was better than Bathurst.

“This is one of the all-time greatest moments in my motorsport career.”

Shell V-Power Racing’s Will Davison repeated his opening race win from the recent Sandown event on Saturday, although he had to fight for it in the closing laps, after the safety car bunched the field to retrieve the crashed car of Macauley Jones.

Andre Heimgartner (R&J Batteries Commodore) registered his first Supercars podium finish on home soil in second, while Cam Waters brought the Monster Mustang home third after starting from the pole position.

Carnage ensued at the start of the second race, with Anton De Pasquale forced into the wall on the exit of the back straight chicane after a mid-pack bunch up.

Fortunately, the Shell V-Power crew were able to rebuild the battered Mustang in time for the finale.

Worse was the follow near the end of the opening lap, with contact between the Commodores of Mark Winterbottom and Will Brown seeing the latter register a 56g crash into the pit entry wall, with the race subsequently red flagged and shortened due to the barrier repairs.

Post-race, the duo were involved in a heated pit lane exchange, with Brown’s Erebus team principal Barry Ryan getting physical with Winterbottom amid the arguing.

On lap six, a shuffle occurred at the hairpin when polesitter van Gisbergen allowed Davison to get a run around the outside, which ultimately dropped the Ford driver to fourth.

In the final run down, van Gisbergen led home Chaz Mostert (Optus Commodore) and Waters.

Davison was in the box seat to wrap up the Jason Richards Trophy, leading the third race from pole, until a botched pit stop resulted in a loose wheel that eliminated him from the running.

Behind van Gisbergen and Waters, Heimgartner claimed his second podium of the meet in third, with his Brad Jones Racing squad providing the Kiwi with some particularly swift tyre changes.

The Repco Supercars Championship returns to Australia with the Repco Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama on October 9.

Race 1 – 41 laps

Race 2 – 36 laps

Race 3 – 41 laps

Championship points: