Kiwi motor race star Shane van Gisbergen came from behind with a late charge to win the opening race of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship in Ipswich in Queensland.
It was his third win in the last four races as he closes in on the championship lead held by his Red Bull Racing teammate Jamie Whincup.
While Whincup and Craig Lowndes marked eachother in pitting early in the 38 lap race, van Gisbergen waited until mid-race, and with the superior tyres managed to close the seven second deficit. He made initial pass on Lowndes after the veteran made a mistake and then produced a superb move on Whincup on the penultimate lap to grab the lead.
His Triple Eight Racing team enjoyed a trifecta with Whincup second and Lowndes third, and scored the 100th win for the team in a Holden.
“One-two-three for the team was a fantastic. The cars were amazing,” van Gisbergen said. “I was surprised the boys pitted as early as they did but they were racing eachother.
“We ran with the time trial option and had good tyres. It was awesome.”
Team owner Roland Dane said van Gisbergen picked the best strategy.
“We ran with different strategies. Jamie had the pick but Shane’s decision was in the end better,” he said. “We had the Prodrive cars right behind us but everyone else was nowhere. We covered Winterbottom with Shane and managed to come out on top.”
Manawatu driver Chris Pither enjoyed his first ever pole in the Supercars Championship when he performed brilliantly in qualifying for the Super Black Racing Ford.
He was quickly monstered by the Triple Eight drivers and forced back into the pack, making good ground on fresh tyres to finish 11, just behind fellow Kiwi Fabian Coulthard, who also came home strongly on good tyres.
Of the other Kiwis, Scott McLaughlin was 15th in a largely challenging day, with Andre Heimgartner 20th and the experienced Craig Baird 25th after coming into the championship as a replacement for Erebus Motorsport.
There is a further race tomorrow.
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