Jamie Whincup has ended teammate Shane van Gisbergen’s bid to claim a history breaking Supercars’ winning-streak, with victory in the first of two races at the Beaurepaires Tasmania SuperSprint. In the third race of the round, Chaz Mostert ended a two-year wait for victory in the finale.
Whincup started from second on the grid, and ran down Ford’s Cam Waters mid-race to claim his first win of the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship, and 123rd of his illustrious career.
Van Gisbergen finished second after starting sixth. The result means he finishes with the equal-best start to a Supercars’ season with Allan Moffat and Mark Skaife.
“For the first qualifying session today, we couldn’t quite nail the session compared to yesterday which was a shame, and that made it more difficult for today’s races,” commented van Gisbergen. “We used the remainder of our tyres in the first race, which was pretty good because we managed to get a team one-two finish, although it compromised us for the second race today. ” Van Gisbergen finished in sixth with Whincup fifth home.
“We had no tyres, and we pit early, which meant the other teams covered us, and after that there is not much you can do. Even though we didn’t have the greatest tyres, you always want to be up the front challenging for the race win.
“At the end of the day, one of our championship challengers has won the race, so we need to perform a bit better there. Getting sixth in the last race is a good points booster, and second for the round is awesome. Overall, it was a really good weekend for the team.”
Behind the Red Bull duo was Shell V-Power Mustang driver Will Davison, who snagged his second podium result of 2021.
In the final race of the weekend, Mostert clinched his maiden Walkinshaw Andretti United victory in his 35th start for the team in Race 8 at Symmons Plains.
The win, which was Mostert’s 14th career victory, was set up at the start after he got the jump on pole man Cameron Waters. Second home was Aonton De Pasquale with Shell V-Power Racing team mate Will Davison third, his second podium for the weekend.
“It was a really exciting race that I could see coming to life from about 15 laps to go,” commented Davison. “I was really comfortable with the balance of the car the whole last stint. Even though we pitted early, the tyres held up really well which gave me to ability to make a move on Waters late in the race.”
“It was really great to be able to work together with Anton during the final stages of the race to bring home a great result for the team.”
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