SVG secures Supercars title in dramatic Race 28

Shane van Gisbergen fought back from an early drive-through penalty to secure his maiden Supercars Championship title in Race 28 in Sydney.

While team-mate and title rival Jamie Whincup won the race in dominant fashion, a third place finish for Van Gisbergen was enough to put the championship beyond doubt.

Drama for the Kiwi began with a poor start from pole position that saw the #97 Holden shuffled back to sixth through the opening corners.

An attempted pass on Mark Winterbottom nine laps later then left Van Gisbergen in serious trouble as he tagged The Bottle-O Ford into a spin.

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A subsequent drive-through penalty buried Van Gisbergen in the pack, seemingly prolonging the title decider until Sunday.

A Safety Car to recover the stranded Nissan of Dale Wood on lap 50 of 74, however, put Van Gisbergen back in contention for the top five finish he needed.

Restarting ninth with 20 laps to go, Van Gisbergen picked his way through Will Davison, Rick Kelly, Todd Kelly and Craig Lowndes to finally put himself in a title winning position 10 laps from home.

He didn’t stop there, however, overtaking Scott McLaughlin for fourth before attacking third placed James Courtney, who aggressively defended his position.

After an intense battle, Van Gisbergen finally cleared Courtney at the start of the final lap, leaving him to secure the title in style with a podium finish.

“It’s a pretty amazing feeling,” he said.

“I’m sorry to Mark, I went up the inside and didn’t commit.

“As soon as I went up the inside I thought ‘you pussy’, I didn’t go in hard enough.

“It was his right to turn in, my fault, but I had an awesome car to come through like that.

“We had a lucky Safety Car but that’s racing… what an amazing year.”

Garth Tander meanwhile used a strong mix of speed and strategy to take second in his penultimate start for the Holden Racing Team.

Tander and Courtney had both jumped McLaughlin and Craig Lowndes in the second round of stops to set up what looked liked being a double HRT podium.

Courtney fell from third to fifth on the final lap, with Van Gisbergen and McLaughlin both sneaking by when Courtney ran deep into Turn 1.

Lowndes also had a poor final few laps, slipping behind Rick Kelly and Will Davison to finish just eighth.

Tim Slade and David Reynolds completed the top 10, with the latter coming from the back of the grid after a penalty for breaching post-qualifying parc ferme conditions.

A dismal day for the Ford runners saw 11th placed Fabian Coulthard as the top Falcon driver.

Todd Kelly was 12th after understeering into the Turn 11 tyre wall as Van Gisbergen made his way through 10 laps from home.

Winterbottom lost five laps due to damage from his early incident with Van Gisbergen, eventually finishing 23rd.

Result: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Coates Hire Sydney 500 Race 28

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:55:51.3313
2	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:55:58.1706
3	Red Bull Racing Australia	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:01.1655
4	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	74	01:56:01.7213
5	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:02.1660
6	Sengled Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	74	01:56:08.6952
7	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:09.2880
8	TeamVortex	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:14.6480
9	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:16.3648
10	Erebus Motorsport Penrite	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:17.9295
11	DJR Team Penske	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	74	01:56:19.2175
12	carsales Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	74	01:56:22.9172
13	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	74	01:56:24.1180
14	DJR Team Penske	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG/X	74	01:56:25.2267
15	Repair Management Aust Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:25.9923
16	Preston Hire Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:27.4555
17	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	74	01:56:28.3506
18	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:29.3656
19	Team Cooldrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:30.7919
20	Plus Fitness Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore VF	74	01:56:31.5793
21	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	74	01:56:37.5259
22	Erebus Motorsport	Shae Davies	Holden Commodore VF	71	01:57:20.1338
23	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	69	01:57:06.7239
24	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Moffat	Volvo S60	65	01:56:49.2223
DNF	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Nissan Altima	48	01:13:51.3286
DNF	Super Black Racing	Chris Pither	Ford Falcon FG/X	1	2:20.6410

Championship Standings

1	Shane van Gisbergen	3218
2	Jamie Whincup	3048
3	Scott McLaughlin	2695
4	Craig Lowndes	2686
5	Will Davison	2499
6	Mark Winterbottom	2420
7	Chaz Mostert	2289
8	Michael Caruso	2176
9	Tim Slade	2167
10	Garth Tander	2114
11	James Courtney	2060
12	Fabian Coulthard	2036
13	Rick Kelly	1835
14	Todd Kelly	1760
15	Scott Pye	1741
16	Jason Bright	1459
17	David Reynolds	1435
18	Cameron Waters	1423
19	Nick Percat	1373
20	James Moffat	1341
21	Chris Pither	1318
22	Dale Wood	1273
23	Tim Blanchard	1266
24	Lee Holdsworth	1054
25	Andre Heimgartner	965
26	Alex Premat	840
27	Jonathon Webb	681
28	Aaren Russell	627
29	David Wall	602
30	Paul Dumbrell	555
31	Steven Richards	516
32	Steve Owen	504
33	Cameron McConville	483
34	Luke Youlden	468
35	Ash Walsh	468
36	Dean Fiore	444
37	Warren Luff	432
38	Tony D’Alberto	429
39	David Russell	405
40	Shae Davies	400
41	Jack Perkins	374
42	Macauley Jones	360
43	Matthew Campbell	324
44	Richie Stanaway	324
45	Karl Reindler	309
46	Jack Le Brocq	303
47	Dean Canto	303
48	Russell Ingall	252
49	Chris van der Drift	234
50	Craig Baird	219
51	Andrew Jones	201
52	James Golding	180
53	Simona de Silvestro	126
54	Renee Gracie	126
55	Kurt Kostecki	108