Cam Waters has held off Will Davison to win Race 18 of the Supercars season, with Shane van Gisbergen rounding out the podium at the Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin. The race failed to meet the 38 lap schedule due to the time limit imposed, a red flag on the opening lap reducing the race length by one lap.
Davison’s second place puts him as the frontrunner to claim the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown trophy, just ahead of teammate Anton De Pasquale.
Fellow New Zealand drivers Andre Heimgartner and Chris Pither finished ninth and 22nd respectively.
Waters and David Reynolds both started well off the front row, with Reynolds running wide at turn 1 allowing Davison to pass by. Van Gisbergen was close on the tail of Reynolds until a red flag was shown to the field after a turn 6 incident.
Scott Pye, Thomas Randle and Todd Hazlewood were all victims of a James Courtney spin on turn 5, which saw him rotate through a slick infield and slide into the pack at turn 6, making contact with multiple drivers as he did so.
Courtney’s car was badly damaged in the incident and retired from the race, as were Pye and Randle. Hazlewood was able to rejoin after repairs were undertaken during the red flag, although he finished 8 laps down.
The race was restarted with a rolling start on lap 4 following a safety car period, with the top 5 all maintaining their places through the next few laps. Reynold’s pushed to reclaim second spot off Davison, but strategic positioning from Davison blocked him from doing so.
Brodie Kostecki was the first to pit, taking 2 tyres on lap 8. The remainder of the field stayed out for a few more laps, with Broc Feeney nearly collecting Kostecki after rejoining on lap 12. Feeney continued wide at turn 1, going onto the grass and safely rejoining at the corner exit.
A quick stop from Heimgartner on lap 14 saw him rejoin behind Kostecki, the earlier pit stop paying dividends for the Erebus Motorsport driver. Fresher tyres, however, allowed Heimgartner to quickly retake his position.
Van Gisbergen caught the leaders at lap 17, before pitting at the end of the lap and taking 2 tyres. It was a better stop for the kiwi, a whole 7 seconds faster than yesterdays debacle. It was still not enough to get ahead of Jack Le Brocq, who executed a successful undercut. Van Gisbergen was able to retake the spot on lap 20.
Waters and Davison both came in as the lead cars on lap 18, both maintaining their net positions. Yesterdays winner Anton De Pasquale stayed out and took a late stop, as did Reynolds. Both came in on lap 23, with Reynolds taking four new tyres, dropping down the field and aiming for a fast finish to make up for yesterdays DNF. This put van Gisbergen up into a podium spot on the road.
Reynold’s quickly picked off Heimgartner, Chaz Mostert, Mark Winterbottom and Le Brocq to retake 5th position, behind De Pasquale. The latter caught van Gisbergen late in the race after he backed off, but was unable to take his place.
The race met its time limit at 3.25pm, one lap early, with the lead positions not changing through the final laps.
Chaz Mostert finished in 8th, redeeming himself following yesterdays post-race disqualification. An air blower was yesterday used on the grid to cool the radiator of the car, a direct violation of the rules prohibiting artificial cooling once a car leaves the garage.
Race control rejected Walkinshaw Andretti United’s appeal into the matter, and the disqualification stands. This means Andre Heimgartner moves up to fourth place, with Mark Winterbottom fifth from yesterdays proceedings.
Race 17 Top 10:
1st– Cam Waters
2nd– Will Davison
3rd– Shane van Gisbergen
4th– Anton De Pasquale
5th– David Reynolds
6th– Jack Le Brocq
7th– Mark Winterbottom
8th– Chaz Mostert
9th– Andre Heimgartner
10th– Nick Percat