Having won the top-ten shootout for pole position and going on to win the first 250km race of the NTI Townsville 500, Shane van Gisbergen is still looking for more gains at the latest Repco Australia Supercars Championship round in Queensland.
Van Gisbergen took his 49th Supercars win, finishing ahead of Red Bull Ampol Racing team mate Jamie Whincup with Shell V-Power Racing’s Anton De Pasquale third ahead of Nick Percat, David Reynolds, Tim Slade and James Courtney.
“The car was amazing in qualifying but I didn’t do a very good job,” commented van Gisbergen. “I managed to get it together in the shootout and put in a really good lap. Jamie (Whincup) said he put in an average lap too, but to qualify one-two was an awesome result for the team and very encouraging.
“It’s a testament to how well our guys have been working and how good our cars are. “
Whincup led from the start to lap 70 when van Gisbergen took over until the chequered flag on lap 87, extending his series lead to 233-points.
“My start in the race was good, but Jamie managed to get away from me,” van Gisbergen said. “I was a bit frustrated that my car wasn’t very good, but it was just the dirty air, and as soon as Jamie got away from me, I started catching him again. I knew my car was good, so it was a little bit frustrating, but in my second stint with a fresh set of tyres, I managed to get away.
“The race was really cool, but physically I’m wrecked. I think my car was a little bit better in some areas, and the strategy of taking a bit of pain in the first stint allowed us to do well in the second stint. It’s awesome to have a team one-two. I’m sure other teams will be working hard tomorrow, but to race each other and gap the field by so much, we’re so lucky to have the cars that we do.”
Cars will return to the track at 10:10am AEST for Race 16 ARMOR ALL Qualifying.
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