Shane van Gisbergen took the opening victory in Saturday’s Supercars race at Newcastle, the Coates Hire Newcastle 500. Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard rounded out the podium with a Shell V-Power 2-3, taking the team one step closer to securing the 2019 Supercars Teams’ title to go along with Scott McLaughlin’s already secure Drivers’ Championship.
“The shootout really set up the day for me,” van Gisbergen said. “I struggled on new tyres for whatever reason and we had to come up with something to try and make it work. I went through turn one and under drove but had grip, making it up the rest of the lap in the shootout.
“That lap was good, the car was good, and the race was good. Jamie maybe had better tyre life in that first stint, but the strategy worked out in our favour. There was racing down into turn one with a couple of factors. Obviously, you can’t plan scenarios, but I did have to be close enough to stay inside Scotty (McLaughlin) and Jamie had to be close enough to follow me through.
“It worked out that way, we did it cleanly and ended up 1-2 which was perfect. The end result however was a little bit of a shame as it would have been great to get 1-2 for the team. It makes tomorrow that little bit harder, but we will be trying to get those points for the Teams’ Championship as much as possible.”
McLaughlin started off the front row alongside van Gisbergen after jumping from eighth to second in the Top 10 Shootout. He dropped to third place off the start, but good pace and good strategy saw him leading in the middle stint.
“This track is a tough one, we’re working hard out there,” McLaughlin commented. “Great job by everyone at Shell V-Power Racing, double podium – two and three, obviously Jamie made a mistake there and gifted us a double podium, but I’m sure they’ll come back strong tomorrow. Overall, a great team result.”
He was third in the later stages of the race, before Jamie Whincup made a rare error that saw him run up the Turn 1 escape road to drop off the podium.
Coulthard secured the sixth-placed grid spot in the Top 10 Shootout, and was seventh across the opening stint. He was to take his first pit stop, and used superior pace in the middle stint to jump some rivals and be fourth before Whincup’s excursion elevated him to his first podium since Townsville.
“The timing of this podium is perfect,” said Coulthard. “We were gifted that one a little bit with Jamie [Whincup] going down the escape road, it’s a pretty rare mistake from him, but we’ll take it. We want to win that teams’ championship pretty bad and we’ll do what we can to do that. I said at the start of the race I was happy with the car. The middle stint is probably what set it up for us. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
The result saw the team extend their lead in the Teams’ points to 143 over Triple Eight, with McLaughlin’s secure championship lead now sitting at 538. Coulthard is fourth, with a 138-point deficit to third placed Whincup.
Coates Hire Newcastle 500, Race 31
Pos No. Driver Laps Diff
1 97 Shane van Gisbergen 95
2 17 Scott McLaughlin 95 +10.526
3 12 Fabian Coulthard 95 +12.830
4 9 David Reynolds 95 +15.324
5 6 Cameron Waters 95 +22.957
6 2 Scott Pye 95 +23.717
7 22 James Courtney 95 +29.650
8 88 Jamie Whincup 95 +29.918
9 14 Tim Slade 95 +30.652
10 18 Mark Winterbottom 95 +35.378
11 55 Chaz Mostert 95 +41.403
12 5 Lee Holdsworth 95 +49.549
13 15 Rick Kelly 95 +58.515
14 8 Nick Percat 95 +1’00.941
15 23 Will Davison 95 +1’02.616
16 33 Richie Stanaway 95 +1’10.639
17 21 Macauley Jones 95 +1’10.752
18 35 Todd Hazelwood 94 +1 lap
19 78 Simona de Silvestro 94 +1 lap
20 3 Garry Jacobson 94 +1 lap
21 7 Andre Heimgartner 94 +1 lap
22 34 James Golding 94 +1 lap
23 99 Anton De Pasquale 91 +4 laps
24 19 Jack Le Brocq 2
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