In a race which finished in a dramatic fashion in Townsville, Shane Van Gisbergen has claimed his second victory of the weekend despite crossing the line behind Anton de Pasquale.
The final three laps saw the Shell V-Power car hot on the tail of the Red Bull Racing number 97, before a last corner lunge saw Van Gisbergen spin out after a hit from de Pasquale.
De Pasquale attempted to regress, stopping just short of the line, however Van Gisbergen slotted in behind him to ensure a penalty would be incurred. Both cars comically rolled over the line at slow speed in tandem, and race control was quick to give a five second penalty to de Pasquale, relegating him to second place.
Cam Waters rounded out the podium places after battling for Chaz Mostert for a significant period of the event, with James Courtney driving a solid race to come home in fifth.
Andre Heimgartner was the second best kiwi, coming home in ninth.
After a safety car-less race yesterday it took only a few corners before an intervention was required today, after Scott Pye and Will Davison made contact. Pye span in front of the field who all miraculously managed to avoid him. Heavy damaged was sustained however which saw his Commodore leaving the track on a flatbed.
Davison’s damage saw him run off and hit the tyres at the next turn three, before returning to the track as the last running car, and required a pit stop for repairs under the safety car.
A spectacular charge through the field over the course of the race saw Davison come back to finish 7th.
De Pasquale managed to pick off Waters early, and was caught by Thomas Randle who was the only driver in the field that started on the super soft tyre compound.
Van Gisbergen managed to pass Waters on lap nine for third position before setting his sights on de Pasquale.
Tim Slade was the first of the front runners to make their first stops, stopping on lap 22. Waters followed suit on lap 25 as the gap to the leader was increasing.
Van Gisbergen went in on lap 28 and took on 68 litres of the required 140 litres of fuel, and changing to his second hard set of tyres.
Stopping before de Pasquale proved effective for Red Bull Racing, with Van Gisbergen undercutting both the Shell V-Power car and Thomas Randle.
This gave him the lead of the race through its mid-stages ahead of de Pasquale, Waters, Mostert and Courtney.
Courtney took the initiative from this group and made his second stop on lap 59, taking on his remaining fuel and changing to super softs.
Mostert and Waters followed suit a lap later with Van Gisbergen and de Pasquale waiting a further lap for their final pit of the race.
Van Gisbergen emerged with the net lead of the event, leaving it up to the drivers behind to challenge through the final stages if they wanted race honors.
They failed to do so, just, with a nail biting finish and final few laps seeing the kiwi maintain his lead, on the timesheet albeit.
