Symmons Plains hosts the third round of the Australian Supercars Championship over the weekend in Tasmania. Current leader on points, Shane van Gisbergen, is confident that his Red Bull Holden Racing team has sorted out his handling problems that plagued him in the second round two weeks ago at the Australian F1 Grand Prix event.
The Adelaide 500 winner had what could be described as an average round in Melbourne but holds a 49-point lead over Erebus Racing’s David Reynolds with fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin in third.
“I think we had a really troublesome weekend (at Albert Park) on the first two days and then we got the car better,” commented van Gisbergen. “It didn’t fix our qualifying results, but I think we salvaged a good weekend, minimised the points loss and I think we’re still ahead in the championship by a small amount. We did a good job from race one onwards.”
Van Gisbergen won the opening race in Tasmania last season but it was a race where no championship points were awarded following a massive pile-up in the opening laps that eliminated 11 cars. Only four laps were eventually completed due to time restrictions. Fabian Coulthard, currently sitting tenth in the championship, also won last year at Symmons Plains breaking a 13 straight Holden winning streak at the circuit.
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1. Shane van Gisbergen 486
2. David Reynolds 437
3. Scott McLaughlin 425
4. Chaz Mostert 416
5. Scott Pye 397
6. Jamie Whincup 379
7. James Courtney 375
8. Nick Percat 352
9. Mark Winterbottom 329
10. Cameron Waters 325
14. Fabian Coulthard 308
TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1. Triple Eight Race Engineering 865
2. Walkinshaw Andretti United 772
3. Tickford Racing (Winterbottom/Mostert) 745
4. Shell V-Power Racing Team 733
5. Brad Jones Racing 672
6. Erebus Motorsport 583
7. Nissan NISMO 446
8. Garry Rogers Motorsport 425
9. Tickford Racing (Waters/Stanaway) 399
10. Nissan Motorsport 381
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