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Australia

Sandown Supercars: Van Gisbergen wins, rivals clash in Race 2

Shane van Gisbergen prevailed in mixed conditions to win Race 2 at Sandown, while dramatic late contact decided the fight for second place.

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering

Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics

A damp track made for a thrilling opening few laps, the lead changing hands on a number of occasions.

Jamie Whincup was the first to have a go out front, after beating polesitter van Gisbergen into the first corner. Chaz Mostert, who also got by van Gisbergen on the first lap, then charged past Whincup on Lap 2.

Van Gisbergen followed Mostert through into second, and made a serious play for the lead on the way into the final corner on the second lap. But Mostert got the better drive onto the front straight allowing him to immediately reclaim the lead.

A lap later there was more action at the last turn, Mostert running across the grass after momentarily losing control of his Walkinshaw Holden. He managed to gather it up without losing his lead, and was given a reprieve a few corners later when the safety car was called to collect Macauley Jones' broken Holden.

The Lap 7 restart went perfectly for van Gisbergen, the Kiwi sliding down the inside of Mostert at the first corner. He then charged away, gapping Mostert by over two seconds before the track started to dry out.

Third-Cam Waters was the first of the lead pack to switch to slicks on Lap 20, followed by van Gisbergen and Mostert a lap later. While van Gisbergen re-emerged with his healthy lead in tact, Mostert had to yield second place to Waters.

There was no stopping van Gisbergen across the second stint, the Kiwi cruising to his second win of the weekend with a 12 second advantage.

"It was awesome," he said.

"I had a good battle with Chaz [at the start] and when the safety car came out I pulled up beside him and we did the thumbs up each other. Pretty cool.

"Once it dried up my car got better and better. I must have had a little less tyre pressure, which explains why he was so good on the first lap."

The battle for second was a nail biter to the end.

At first it was Waters and Mostert locked in a tense fight across the second stint, Mostert looking slightly quicker but Waters with the critical track position.

With two laps to go the fight got physical, Mostert tagging Waters on the way into Turn 1. That sent the Tickford Mustang into a spin, Mostert slowing to immediately redress the situation.

 

That brought Andre Heimgartner and Whincup into the equation, the foursome scrapping over position through the Turns 2-4 complex.

Initially it was Heimgartner that got into third, only for another Turn 1 passing move from Mostert to go wrong. Contact between the pair sent Heimgartner wide, Whincup sneaking through for third place as Mostert and Heimgartner settled for fourth and fifth.

Nick Percat finished a solid sixth ahead of James Courtney, Scott Pye, Tim Slade and Will Davison.

Race results:

cla # driver car laps gap
1 97 NZL Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore ZB 36  
2 6 AUS Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 36 12.7887
3 88 AUS Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore ZB 36 13.0103
4 25 AUS Chaz Mostert Holden Commodore ZB 36 13.6863
5 7 NZL Andre Heimgartner Ford Mustang GT 36 14.3432
6 8 AUS Nicholas Percat Holden Commodore ZB 36 15.2242
7 44 AUS James Courtney Ford Mustang GT 36 23.5315
8 20 AUS Scott Pye Holden Commodore ZB 36 29.3648
9 3 AUS Timothy Slade Ford Mustang GT 36 30.0586
10 17 AUS Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 36 30.3711
11 18 AUS Mark Winterbottom Holden Commodore ZB 36 33.7298
12 5 AUS Jack Le Brocq Ford Mustang GT 36 37.5334
13 99 AUS Brodie Kostecki Holden Commodore ZB 36 38.8771
14 14 AUS Todd Hazelwood Holden Commodore ZB 36 39.8910
15 2 AUS Bryce Fullwood Holden Commodore ZB 36 41.4928
16 9 AUS Will Brown Holden Commodore ZB 36 42.5626
17 19 NZL Fabian Coulthard Holden Commodore ZB 36 45.5020
18 34 AUS Jake Kostecki Holden Commodore ZB 36 51.9689
19 35 AUS Zane Goddard Holden Commodore ZB 36 1'05.3022
20 22 AUS Garry Jacobson Holden Commodore ZB 35 1 lap
21 4 AUS Jack Smith Holden Commodore ZB 35 1 lap
22 26 AUS David Reynolds Ford Mustang GT 32 4 laps
  11 AUS Anton de Pasquale Ford Mustang GT 25  
  96 AUS Macauley Jones Holden Commodore ZB 2  

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