Van Gisbergen wins crash-marred Race 13

Shane van Gisbergen made amends for a costly mistake on Saturday by storming to his second win of the season in Race 13 at Hidden Valley.

The 200km contest was marred by a heavy crash on the opening lap that saw Team 18’s Lee Holdsworth taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg.

A wild opening lap also saw a big hit for Fabian Coulthard and Chaz Mostert that took both Fords out of contention.

CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s separate story on the accidents.

THE FINAL RACE OF THE 2023 REPCO SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP ON ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST STREET CIRCUITS.
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Pole-sitter Van Gisbergen endured a scrappy first lap of his own, losing out to Todd Kelly off the start before dropping to eighth by running wide at Turn 5.

The early action required a lengthy Safety Car, which saw the field pile into what proved a chaotic pitlane.

Craig Lowndes emerged from the stops with the lead from Kelly, Mark Winterbottom, Van Gisbergen and Tim Slade.

Van Gisbergen immediately moved to second on the restart when Winterbottom misjudged the braking area and punted the back of Kelly, earning the Ford a drive-through penalty.

A second Safety Car was required after another wild restart lap, which this time saw Scott Pye clatter into Michael Caruso at Turn 6, leaving the Ford stranded on the circuit.

Will Davison and Jamie Whincup were among few to take another drink of fuel under the yellows having already lost track position when forced to stack at the opening round of stops.

Van Gisbergen took the lead from Lowndes at the second restart and subsequently held the advantage when the second stops unfolded at half distance.

A late Safety Car due to tyre debris from Tim Blanchard’s Holden then provided a nine lap shootout to the end, which Van Gisbergen controlled comfortably.

Slade scored second after jumping Lowndes at the second stops and holding out the TeamVortex entry in the closing laps.

Davison made the best of his three-stop strategy to take fourth ahead of James Courtney, who salvaged a solid result from a rough weekend at the Holden Racing Team.

Michael Caruso, Scott McLaughlin, Jamie Whincup, David Reynolds and James Moffat filled sixth through 10th.

Winterbottom eventually finished 20th after receiving a second drive-through penalty while running 16th with four laps remaining, this time for contact with Aaren Russell.

His early sparring partner Todd Kelly finished 13th, while Rick Kelly was 15th after being delayed in Pye’s early accident.

Whincup now leads the championship by 30 points from Lowndes, with McLaughlin a further 15 back in third and Winterbottom falling to fourth.

Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown Race 13 

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:32:52.6896
2	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:32:54.2551
3	TeamVortex	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:32:54.6504
4	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:32:55.2878
5	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:32:58.8954
6	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	70	01:33:00.1717
7	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	70	01:33:00.9130
8	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:33:01.5167
9	Erebus Motorsport Penrite	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:33:01.9311
10	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Moffat	Volvo S60	70	01:33:02.6310
11	Super Black Racing	Chris Pither	Ford Falcon FG/X	70	01:33:03.0048
12	ABRO/Repair Management Aust	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:33:03.8084
13	carsales Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	70	01:33:04.1467
14	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:33:04.6631
15	Sengled Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	70	01:33:06.0221
16	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:33:06.7164
17	ABRO/Repair Management Aust	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:33:08.3760
18	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Nissan Altima	70	01:33:08.7884
19	Plus Fitness Racing	Aaren Russell	Holden Commodore VF	70	01:33:17.3483
20	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	70	01:33:38.4241
21	Team Cooldrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	69	01:33:04.9519
22	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	64	01:33:35.6871
23	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	55	01:33:42.6206
DNF	DJR Team Penske	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG/X	7	15:07.8182
DNF	DJR Team Penske	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X
DNF	Preston Hire Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF

Championship Standings

1	Jamie Whincup	1275
2	Craig Lowndes	1245
3	Scott McLaughlin	1230
4	Mark Winterbottom	1212
5	Shane Van Gisbergen	1204
6	Will Davison	1152
7	Michael Caruso	1035
8	Tim Slade	1023
9	Rick Kelly	921
10	James Courtney	909
11	Garth Tander	907
12	Chaz Mostert	869
13	Todd Kelly	865
14	Fabian Coulthard	796
15	Jason Bright	795
16	Scott Pye	775
17	David Reynolds	775
18	Cameron Waters	685
19	Lee Holdsworth	648
20	James Moffat	624
21	Nick Percat	591
22	Chris Pither	550
23	Dale Wood	535
24	Tim Blanchard	506
25	Andre Heimgartner	464
26	Aaren Russell	384