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Andrew van Leeuwen

Supercars Auckland: Van Gisbergen doubles up in final Pukekohe thriller

For the second race running it was a dramatic first lap, James Courtney the unlucky driver to end up in the wall this time around.

The veteran found himself sandwiched between Jake Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood on the way into Turn 1 and was fired into the outside wall at speed.

That prompted a lengthy safety car as the ruined Mustang was retrieved and repairs made to the barriers.

The race didn't resume until lap 12, Will Davison comfortably leading Cam Waters, Anton De Pasquale and Broc Feeney across the first stint.

Van Gisbergen, meanwhile got past David Reynolds for seventh, but didn't make much headway after that until the stops.

Feeney made his stop on lap 18, followed by De Pasquale and Heimgartner on the next lap.

Heimgartner managed to jump both of those drivers in the process as he took over the effective third position.

On lap 21 Waters took his service which prompted Davison to cover from the lead a lap later.

That was when Davison's race, and his shot at the Jason Richards Trophy, unravelled, his car released without its left-rear properly attached.

That left Waters in the lead, while van Gisbergen, who stopped on lap 25, emerged as a contender as he jumped Feeney in the stops and set after Heimgartner.

He passed his fellow Kiwi at the chicane on lap 31 before hunting down Waters.

The pair then staged a thrilling battle for the lead as van Gisbergen consistently tried to pass Waters at the hairpin, and Waters defended staunchly through the fast complex onto the main straight.

The battle turned physical on lap 35 when van Gisbergen got into the back right rear quarter of Waters through Turn 11.

Three laps later, and three laps from the end, the hometown hero finally got the jump done, sliding up the inside of Waters at Turn 11 to seal victory in the final ever Supercars race at Pukekohe.

The win also sealed the Jason Richards Trophy for van Gisbergen in what was a fitting end to the Pukekohe era.

Van Gisbergen will now head to the Bathurst 1000 with a 525-point series lead over Waters.

Waters finished second while Heimgartner made it two Kiwis on the podium with third place.

Feeney came home a solid fourth ahead of De Pasquale, Chaz Mostert and Scott Pye.

Reynolds finished eighth from Nick Percat and Tim Slade, while Davison was left down in 22nd after making a second stop to have his wheel issue rectified, and copping a 15-second penalty for an unsafe release.

Supercars Auckland - Race 3 Results

Cla Driver Car Laps Gap Interval
1 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore ZB 41    
2 Australia Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 41 1.116 1.116
3 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner Holden Commodore ZB 41 1.627 0.511
4 Broc Feeney Holden Commodore ZB 41 3.214 1.587
5 Australia Anton De Pasquale Ford Mustang GT 41 5.627 2.413
6 Australia Chaz Mostert Holden Commodore ZB 41 6.228 0.601
7 Australia Scott Pye Holden Commodore ZB 41 7.417 1.189
8 Australia David Reynolds Ford Mustang GT 41 8.518 1.101
9 Australia Nick Percat Holden Commodore ZB 41 12.632 4.114
10 Australia Tim Slade Ford Mustang GT 41 12.964 0.332
11 Australia James Golding Holden Commodore ZB 41 18.022 5.058
12 Australia Mark Winterbottom Holden Commodore ZB 41 18.943 0.921
13 Australia Bryce Fullwood Holden Commodore ZB 41 24.662 5.719
14 Australia Lee Holdsworth Ford Mustang GT 41 25.318 0.656
15 Australia Jake Kostecki Ford Mustang GT 41 25.619 0.301
16 New Zealand Chris Pither Holden Commodore ZB 41 26.761 1.142
17 Australia Macauley Jones Holden Commodore ZB 41 27.225 0.464
18 Australia Thomas Randle Ford Mustang GT 41 31.827 4.602
19 Brodie Kostecki Holden Commodore ZB 41 32.487 0.659
20 Australia Jack Smith Holden Commodore ZB 41 34.659 2.173
21 Australia Jack Le Brocq Holden Commodore ZB 41 37.293 2.633
22 Australia Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 40    
23 Australia Todd Hazelwood Holden Commodore ZB 34    
  Australia James Courtney Ford Mustang GT 0    
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering (Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics)

Van Gisbergen wins crash-marred Race 2

Shane van Gisbergen won the Sunday Supercars opener at Pukekohe that was rocked by a frightening first-lap crash for Will Brown.

The race got off to a dramatic start after second-row starter Anton De Pasquale was shuffled to the back end of the top 10 in the first few corners.

He then made contact with Brodie Kostecki on the exit of Turn 6 which fired the Shell Ford into the wall.

However there was an even bigger impact at Turn 10 when Will Brown clashed with Mark Winterbottom and hit the wall hard.

The race was red-flagged due to the a concrete wall near pit entry being shifted by the crash, while medical crews had to work on a winded Brown trackside before he was transferred to the medical centre.

Supercars later confirmed that Brown wasn't seriously injured while Winterbottom was hit with a pitlane penalty for his role in the incident.

The race got back underway on the sixth lap with van Gisbergen initially leading Will Davison.

However a failed attempt to wrangle the lead from van Gisbergen on the outside at Turn 8 on the restart lap proved costly for Davison, who was run wide and dropped back to fourth behind Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters.

Van Gisbergen continued to lead by around a second until the lead group started their stops when Waters pitted on lap 16.

Mostert and Davison followed suit a lap later before van Gisbergen covered them all off the next time round, the top four resuming in the same order.

They stayed that way until the time certain finish too, van Gisbergen ensuring the Pukekohe farewell will feature at least one Kiwi victory as he crossed the line 2.3s clear of Mostert.

Scott Pye finished Race 2 fifth behind Waters and Davison, with Andre Heimgartner sixth, David Reynolds seventh and Broc Feeney eighth.

Jake Kostecki put in a solid effort to finish ninth ahead of James Golding.

Supercars Auckland - Race 2 Results

Cla Driver Car Laps Gap Interval
1 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore ZB 36    
2 Australia Chaz Mostert Holden Commodore ZB 36 2.3986 2.3986
3 Australia Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 36 4.4748 2.0762
4 Australia Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 36 6.9476 2.4728
5 Australia Scott Pye Holden Commodore ZB 36 11.8098 4.8622
6 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner Holden Commodore ZB 36 12.2091 0.3993
7 Australia David Reynolds Ford Mustang GT 36 19.7579 7.5488
8 Broc Feeney Holden Commodore ZB 36 22.0980 2.3401
9 Australia Jake Kostecki Ford Mustang GT 36 23.7599 1.6619
10 Australia James Golding Holden Commodore ZB 36 24.1542 0.3943
11 Australia Bryce Fullwood Holden Commodore ZB 36 26.8516 2.6974
12 Australia Lee Holdsworth Ford Mustang GT 36 27.5987 0.7471
13 Australia Macauley Jones Holden Commodore ZB 36 32.7086 5.1099
14 Australia Nick Percat Holden Commodore ZB 36 33.1104 0.4018
15 Australia Tim Slade Ford Mustang GT 36 36.2082 3.0978
16 Australia James Courtney Ford Mustang GT 36 38.5751 2.3669
17 Australia Jack Smith Holden Commodore ZB 36 42.1043 3.5292
18 Brodie Kostecki Holden Commodore ZB 36 42.4732 0.3689
19 New Zealand Chris Pither Holden Commodore ZB 36 42.8797 0.4065
20 Australia Todd Hazelwood Holden Commodore ZB 36 43.7785 0.8988
21 Australia Thomas Randle Ford Mustang GT 36 53.1711 9.3926
22 Australia Mark Winterbottom Holden Commodore ZB 35 1 Lap 1 Lap
  Australia Jack Le Brocq Holden Commodore ZB 30 6 Laps 5 Laps
  Australia Anton De Pasquale Ford Mustang GT 0    
  Australia Will Brown Holden Commodore ZB 0    
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