Townsville Supercars: Van Gisbergen runs down Whincup again

Whincup converted his pole position into an early lead, and was even given a slight reprieve on the opening lap when Nick Percat snuck past van Gisbergen.

The Kiwi swiftly reclaimed second spot, though, before settling into a rhythm around a second behind his teammate.

As the first round of stops approached van Gisbergen started to hustle Whincup, the gap down to just over half a second when Whincup pitted on Lap 28.

Van Gisbergen made his first stop four laps later, taking on more fuel than the #88. Between that and the undercut he found himself 10s behind Whincup.

On better rubber van Gisbergen was able to eat through that margin across the second stint, the gap coming down to around 2s by the time Whincup pitted for a second time on Lap 60.

Once again van Gisbergen went longer, taking his second service on Lap 65. And once again the undercut helped grow Whincup's lead, the margin just over 6s when van Gisbergen got going again.

Helped by Whincup hitting some traffic, van Gisbergen was able to quickly close onto the back of his teammate. Within 10 laps he was tucked under Whincup's rear wing, before making a play for the lead on Lap 76.

His first attempt was at Turn 11, Whincup slamming the door closed as van Gisbergen took a look up the inside. Van Gisbergen then got the move done at Turn 13, the pair making light contact mid-corner as the lead changed hands.

Once in front there was no stopping van Gisbergen, who, in what was a near carbon copy of yesterday's race, cruised to a 10th win of the season and 50th of his career. 

"Thanks to Red Bull Ampol Racing, our cars were fantastic," said van Gisbergen. "Another sub-par start from me and then I had to pay for it all race. But I feel a lot better today, I paced myself and was a lot smoother. It's awesome to get another 300 points."

Whincup, meanwhile, was left a little deflated having led the majority of both of the weekend's races. 

"We gave it everything we had," he said. "I'm obviously rapt for the team result, it couldn't be a better weekend. But there's a part of me that's gut-wrenched. I led 140-something laps this weekend and didn't get any chocolate. 

"That bit is painful, but I've got to put that aside."

Van Gisbergen's series lead over Whincup is now 245 points, with everyone else now more than a full round's worth of points behind the Kiwi.

For the second day running Anton De Pasquale finished a lonely third, although he did improve on the 30-second deficit from yesterday, finishing 23s off the winner.

It was Percat that looked bound for third place early in the race, only to have his charge dulled by a power steering issue late in the first stint. 

He came in on Lap 25 looking for a bigger steering wheel to make the car easier to drive, which caught the Brad Jones Racing crew by surprise. After a delayed stop he was sent out for another stint battling away on the standard steering wheel, only switching to the 'bus wheel' at his second stop.

The best he could manage was 21st at the finish.

Will Davison finished fourth while Will Brown and Cam Waters staged an epic late battle over fifth place. It was Brown that came out on top after passing Waters at the last corner on the penultimate race. 

Todd Hazelwood enjoyed a solid day out with seventh place ahead of Tim Slade, Chaz Mostert and Jack Le Brocq. 

Race 2 results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	-
2	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	2.925	2.926
3	11	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	23.334	23.335
4	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	40.034	40.034
5	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	46.588	46.589
6	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	50.408	50.408
7	14	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	53.414	53.415
8	3	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	53.758	53.759
9	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	1'02.154	1'02.155
10	5	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	1'08.579	1'08.579
11	44	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	1'13.632	1'13.633
12	7	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	1'14.964	1'14.965
13	2	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
14	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
15	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
16	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
17	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
18	35	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
19	22	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
20	34	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
21	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	3 laps
22	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	4 laps
23	26	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	14 laps
	19	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB
View full results