Kiwi motor racing star Shane Van Gisbergen has closed in on the lead of teammate Jamie Whincup after a thrilling win in the latest race in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship in Sydney.
The Red Bull Racing Holden pair passed Ford pole-setter Chaz Mostert in the first lap of today’s 18th race in the championship.
While Whincup took the lead after the Kiwi pitted on lap 14 of the 31-lap race, when he pitted three later he only came out in fourth place and had to fight his way through to second.
Van Gisbergen controlled things and withstood the blow-torch from Whincup over the closing 10 laps for the victory.
It means the New Zealand has moved to 98 points of the championship lead, and led an outstanding day for the New Zealand drivers at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin, who qualified eighth, pushed his way through with good race speed to finish fifth with Fabian Coulthard 10th, Chris Pither 14th and Andrew Heimgartner 23rd in arguably the best overall Kiwi performance this season.
“That was really fun. Jamie was coming quick, I knew that. I just drove my lines, I made one mistake at Turn 1 and had to defend, but other than that it was pretty cool. I definitely enjoyed that one,” said van Gisbergen.
The second race of the weekend is on Sunday at Sydney Motorsport Park.
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