Shane van Gisbergen has held off Will Davison to win tonights Race 26 of the Supercars season at Sandown. The duo have looked the most likely for line honours all weekend, with the final race of the event not disappointing. The sheer class of the two was evident from the start, with a drag race setting up a multi-lap battle which saw van Gisbergen take the lead on Lap 3.
Shell V-Power attempted to over-cut Red Bull Racing by stopping six laps later than the championship leading team, however it was not enough as the outfit ran out of time to get an overtake on fresher tyres.
Red Bull youngster Broc Feeney was also impressive, his third placed result rounding out the podium. He was, however, more than 11 seconds behind the leaders at the end of the event.
Both van Gisbergen and Davison started well off the front row, building a significant lead over the field into Turn 1. Jake Kostecki spun at Turn 4 on the opening lap, a cluttered field seeing him, Chris Pither, Todd Hazlewood and Macauley Jones all make contact with one-another.
All cars were able to resume and no safety car intervention was required.
Davison and van Gisbergen duelled in some great racing for the lead, with the Kiwi finally getting the better of the Australian veteran on Lap 3. Davison attempted to regain the position through a criss-cross move at the penultimate corner of the lap, making contact with his teammate Anton de Pasquale who was attempting to pass on the inside.
The contact saw both front wheels of de Pasquale lifted off the ground, with the wheelie damaging the steering arm on his Mustang. He immediately dove into the pits for repairs, emerging four laps down.
The field had caught the leaders by Lap 6 due to the battle up front with only 1.5 seconds separating the top five cars at this point.
Nick Percat and James Courtney made contact on Lap 12, with Courtney on cold tyres following his recent stop. Miraculously, both drivers avoided significant impact with each other and the wall and continued on. The impact did, however, damage the power steering on Percat’s car which saw him fall down the order.
Van Gisbergen made his stop on Lap 17 from the lead, to emerge just ahead of Chaz Mostert who had attempted an undercut by boxing much earlier. Davison elected to stay out longer, stopping on Lap 23 to emerge behind van Gisbergen and just ahead of Mostert.
Fresher tyres saw Cam Waters come to challenge Mostert for the final podium spot, however an error saw the Mustang go off in the battle on Lap 30.
Feeney managed to accomplish what Waters could not, managing an overtake on Mostert two laps later to sit third.
Davison, on newer tyres, caught back up to van Gisbergen on the penultimate lap, however it was to little too late for the Shell V-Power driver, with the Kiwi holding on for his 16th win of the season.
Feeney held on for third spot, finishing 11 seconds behind the leading duo. The end of the race couldn’t come quick enough for a fading Mostert, who held on for fourth ahead of Mark Winterbottom.
Van Gisbergen celebrated with his signature burnout in front of an impressive Melbourne crowd.
Andre Heimgartner came home in 13th, with Chris Pither in 21st.
Next up, for the final time: Pukekohe.
