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Andrew van Leeuwen

Supercars Perth: Van Gisbergen wins tense finale

Davison jumped van Gisbergen from the outside of the front row at the start, sweeping into the lead at the first corner.

Initially it was David Reynolds who slotted into second place having also found a way around van Gisbergen at the first corner.

Reynolds' stint in second was short-lived, though, the Grove Racing driver locking a brake into the bowl on the first lap and that allowed van Gisbergen to get a run down the back straight and move into second place.

Further back in the field there was first lap action when Mark Winterbottom spun Thomas Randle, putting the Tickford driver into a full rotation in the middle of the road before continuing without serious damage, while Winterbottom was handed a 15-second penalty for his efforts.

Out front it was a see-sawing battle, Davison initially holding a comfortable lead before van Gisbergen turned up the pressure around the 15-lap mark.

But when the Kiwi couldn't find a way through he backed off and let the gap grow to just under a second.

On lap 25 van Gisbergen tried to undercut Davison by taking his mandatory service. However the ploy didn't quite work, Davison pitting a lap later and retaining the lead.

Will Davison, Dick Johnson Racing (Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics)

He didn't have the lead for long, though, van Gisbergen lining Davison up down the back straight on the next lap.

Davison did his best to wrangle back the lead at Turn 1 on the following lap, however van Gisbergen was able to quickly turn attack into defence and hold off the Shell Ford driver.

The next challenge was running down James Courtney, who ended up in the lead thanks to a huge undercut from a lap 12 stop.

The Tickford veteran proved stubborn as the race leader, particularly as van Gisbergen didn't seem to realise he wasn't already leading the race. Once told over the radio that he was racing Courtney, not lapping him, van Gisbergen quickly found a way through with six laps to go.

It was just in the nick of time, too, the safety car coming out just moments after van Gisbergen took the lead from Courtney to retrieve Garry Jacobson.

The race went green with two laps to go, van Gisbergen nailing the restart as he cruised to a 2s victory.

"What an awesome weekend. The car has been brilliant," said van Gisbergen. "That race was funny, I didn't realise James was the leader. I thought it was just Will and I battling, and then I took off to get James. Sorry for stealing that one off him.

"It was awesome. Good battle with Will and then James. [DJR] got one this morning, but we got them back then. I'm stoked."

Courtney hung on for second despite having to hold off the two Dick Johnson Racing cars, on significantly better rubber, for the two-lap sprint to the flag.

His cause was helped somewhat by a yellow flag at the last corner on the final lap, prompted by Brodie Kostecki thumping into his cousin Jake Kostecki on the penultimate lap as they scrapped for a top-10 position.

Davison finished third ahead of team-mate Anton De Pasquale, while Will Brown triumphed in a race-long battle with Reynolds for fifth place. Cam Waters finished seventh ahead of Todd Hazelwood, Andre Heimgartner and Tim Slade.

Van Gisbergen leaves Perth with a 164-point series lead over De Pasquale, with the season continuing at Winton later this month.

Supercars Perth - Race 3 results

Cla Driver Laps Gap Interval
1 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen 46    
2 Australia James Courtney 46 1.913 1.913
3 Australia Will Davison 46 2.213 0.300
4 Australia Anton De Pasquale 46 2.476 0.263
5 Australia Will Brown 46 4.257 1.781
6 Australia David Reynolds 46 5.237 0.980
7 Australia Cameron Waters 46 5.510 0.272
8 Australia Todd Hazelwood 46 5.972 0.462
9 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner 46 6.401 0.429
10 Australia Tim Slade 46 6.834 0.433
11 Broc Feeney 46 7.590 0.756
12 Australia Lee Holdsworth 46 7.632 0.042
13 Australia Jack Le Brocq 46 8.041 0.409
14 Australia Bryce Fullwood 46 8.409 0.369
15 Australia Nick Percat 46 9.258 0.849
16 Australia Macauley Jones 46 9.497 0.239
17 New Zealand Chris Pither 46 9.921 0.424
18 Australia Jack Smith 46 10.391 0.470
19 Australia Chaz Mostert 46 10.401 0.010
20 Australia Mark Winterbottom 46 10.762 0.362
21 Brodie Kostecki 46 45.829 35.067
22 Australia Thomas Randle 45    
  Australia Jake Kostecki 44    
  Australia Garry Jacobson 39    
  Australia Scott Pye 0    
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