Dominant van Gisbergen sails to win

A blistering start had Shane van Gisbergen claim his seventh win of the year, further cementing his position as championship position.

Van Gisbergen dominated the 38-lap affair at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, only not running in first during the pitstop phase.

The race was decided on the opening lap as drivers tussled for an early positional advantage.

Starting on the front row but not pole position, van Gibsergen had the benefit of being on the clean side of the grid.

A sublime launch had him swarm polesitter Will Davison on the run into turn one before muscling his way past and into the race lead.

Davison then came under fire from Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom, both of who decided to venture around the outside of the Dick Johnson Racing Mustang. Though neither succeeded, and Davison held the position.

Once in front, van Gisbergen was flawless and extended his margin over Davison with each passing lap.

Triple Eight were also able to avoid the pitstop drama which cost van Gisbergen a sure victory yesterday with a well executed stop this time around.

“That was awesome,” van Gisbergen said.

“Got another good start, which was great. We just needed to get things right today, pitstop was great and just managed the race at the end.”

Davison came home second, 1.5s adrift of the No.97 machine.

“The top step is where we want to be, but at the end of the day it came down to the start.

“My start wasn’t bad but it just wasn’t good enough…and that is that.”

The most intriguing on-track battle was for the final spot on the rostrum and between two proven race winners – Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup.

Both were on differing strategies, with Mostert completing an early pitstop to gain an undercut while Whincup went long and did the overcut.

With five laps remaining, the two were neck and neck. 

Mostert was in front but battling to keep Whincup at bay, and after several half-hearted lunges, Whincup zipped by at turns two and three.

After impressive qualifying performances, Winterbottom and Anton de Pasquale didn’t trouble the front runners and ended up fifth and sixth.

Fabian Coulthard was a noteworthy improver, moving up six places on his qualifying position to finish 16th, and one spot in front of fellow Kiwi Andre Heimgartner.