Whincup wins, van Gisbergen takes points lead

Jamie Whincup has dominated Race 23 at The Bend while Shane van Gisbergen made it a Red Bull HRT one-two and reclaimed the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship lead.

The #1 ZB Commodore led every lap but for pit stops while van Gisbergen spent all but two laps effectively second in the #97 ZB Commodore.

David Reynolds hauled the #9 Penrite ZB Commodore from 12th on the grid to third while previous championship leader Scott McLaughlin brought the #17 Shell V-Power Racing FGX Falcon home in 10th.

Whincup led the field away from Armor All Pole Position while Tim Slade (#14 Freightliner ZB Commodore) picked up second position from van Gisbergen through Turn 1/Turn 2 and a rapid-starting Craig Lowndes moved from sixth to fourth.

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Whincup was 1.62s to the good after Lap 1 and 2.62s up when van Gisbergen passed Slade at Turn 17 on Lap 2.

Meanwhile, Michael Caruso had nabbed fourth from Lowndes after Scott Pye (#2 Mobil 1 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore) dived underneath the #888 Autobarn ZB Commodore at Turn 18 at the end of Lap 1 as Lowndes attacked Slade.

Half of that gain was only temporary, however, as Lowndes re-passed Caruso on Lap 2.

With extremely low tyre degradation, more than half of the field had served their respective first pit stops by the end of Lap 3.

After 11 laps, and with the first cycle done, Whincup led Caruso, van Gisbergen, Pye, Lowndes, Slade, David Reynolds (#9 Penrite ZB Commodore), McLaughlin, James Courtney (#25 Walkinshaw Andretti United ZB Commodore), and Nick Percat (#8 Mobil ZB Commodore).

Caruso, however, had taken on only 24 litres of his compulsory 120 litre fill whereas Whincup had sunk 46 litres, van Gisbergen nearly as much, and Slade a relatively high 53 litres.

The Nissan Motorsport driver gave up some of that track position when he ran off the edge of the track at Turn 18 on Lap 12, letting van Gisbergen and Pye past.

Caruso brought the #23 Industrial Athlete Altima into pit lane only another three laps later as he and Courtney kicked off the second pit stop cycle despite there being 26 laps remaining.

Courtney’s play had perhaps been prompted by being held up by eighth-placed McLaughlin for several laps.

Pye, Lowndes, and McLaughlin were in a lap later, exiting in the same order as the former two resumed ahead of Caruso as expected.

Whincup was around five seconds ahead when van Gisbergen pitted from second position on Lap 20, and about 10 seconds clear once both had completed their pit stops after Lap 23.

The New Zealander made only minor inroads thereafter before letting the margin drift on the final lap as he took the chequered flag 11.2894s behind his team-mate.

“Great to come back after yesterday but a big thanks to all the engineers at Red Bull,” said Whincup.

“They worked hard before the event to get the cars quick and then just worked together tirelessly throughout the weekend to make sure we had two fast cars. Great to come away with a one-two.”

Van Gisbergen was trying to remain reserved despite turning a 41-point deficit before race start to a 19-point championship lead.

“That’s pretty awesome,” said the 2016 champion.

“I saw the purple board (sponsor sign denoting the championship leader), got a bit excited, but such a long way to go.

“We need to keep our heads down but credit to the team. The Red Bull Holden Racing Team has given us some rockets this weekend, one-two, that’s really special.

“But long way to go. We’ve got to keep focused but we’re in a good spot.”

Reynolds gained three positions on the opening lap and a couple more through the first pit stop cycle.

He followed Slade in and out of the pit lane at the end of Lap 23 and inherited fourth when the order cleansed with Mark Winterbottom’s (#5 The Bottle-O FGX Falcon) second pit stop on Lap 30.

The Brad Jones Racing driver had been looking good for a podium since the lights went out but outbraked himself at Turn 1 with eight laps remaining and ceded third position to Reynolds.

Slade finished fourth from fellow South Australians Percat, who started 15th, and Pye.

Percat had muscled his way past Car #2 on Lap 28, unable to get by when they touched at Turn 4 but making room for himself at Turn 6.

Will Davison (#230 Milwaukee FGX Falcon), Lowndes, and Caruso finished sixth through ninth.

McLaughlin shook out of the second pit stops cycle in 11th, gaining one position when Courtney ran off at Turn 10 on Lap 35.

Courtney fell to 13th by the end, behind Anton De Pasquale (#99 Erebus ZB Commodore) and Chaz Mostert, who started 24th in the #55 Supercheap Auto FGX Falcon.

Fabian Coulthard (#12 DJR Team Penske FGX Falcon) finished 14th, followed by Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy FGX Falcon) and Winterbottom.

Wildcard Macauley Jones was 19th in the #4 DrillPro ZB Commodore while Kurt Kostecki completed only the one lap after picking up right-rear suspension damage in a squeeze with Richie Stanaway (#56 Rabble.Club FGX Falcon) and James Golding (#34 Wilson Security ZB Commodore).

Lee Holdsworth pulled the #18 Preston Hire ZB Commodore off the track with a driveshaft breakage at the halfway mark.

Andre Heimgartner was the other retirement having shunted Garth Tander (#33 Garry Rogers ZB Commodore) on their way into pit lane on Lap 3.

They made more nose-to-tail contact as Tander exited his pit box and the damage to the #7 Plus Fitness Nissan Altima proved terminal.

The next event, the Rabble.Club Sandown 500 on September 14-16, marks the commencement of the Pirtek Enduro Cup.

Results: Race 23, OTR SuperSprint – The Bend

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Car	Laps	Race time
1	1	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:17:54.3862
2	97	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:18:05.6756
3	9	Erebus Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:18:07.8436
4	14	Freightliner Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:18:14.9301
5	8	X-Convenience – Mobil Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:18:16.4500
6	2	Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:18:19.0737
7	230	Milwaukee Racing	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG/X	41	1:18:20.7579
8	888	Autobarn Lowndes Racing	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:18:24.9804
9	23	Industrial Athlete Racing	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	41	1:18:26.8004
10	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG/X	41	1:18:29.3520
11	99	Erebus Motorsport	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:18:37.9712
12	55	Supercheap Auto Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	41	1:18:38.8055
13	25	Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:18:41.4852
14	12	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG/X	41	1:18:41.7639
15	6	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG/X	41	1:18:42.1705
16	5	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	41	1:18:43.4659
17	15	Castrol Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	41	1:18:47.9200
18	19	Tekno Autosports	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:19:03.6528
19	4	DrillPro Racing	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:19:07.6832
20	33	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:19:08.2671
21	21	Team CoolDrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:19:16.4440
22	56	RABBLE.club Racing	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG/X	41	1:19:30.4746
23	78	Team Harvey Norman	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	41	1:19:39.3935
24	34	Wilson Security Racing GRM	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1:19:39.9729
25	35	Bigmate Racing	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore VF	40	1:18:12.8512
DNF	18	Preston Hire Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore ZB	20	38:44.7584
DNF	7	Plus Fitness Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	4	9:04.0208
DNF	42	Arcoplate Racing	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore VF	1	2:57.0300

Drivers’ championship

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Shane van Gisbergen	2778
2	Scott McLaughlin	2759
3	Jamie Whincup	2416
4	Craig Lowndes	2229
5	David Reynolds	2213
6	Fabian Coulthard	1922
7	Rick Kelly	1918
8	Chaz Mostert	1892
9	Tim Slade	1742
10	Scott Pye	1702
11	Nick Percat	1693
12	Mark Winterbottom	1532
13	James Courtney	1482
14	Garth Tander	1458
15	Michael Caruso	1429
16	Will Davison	1423
17	Cameron Waters	1288
18	Jack Le Brocq	1244
19	Andre Heimgartner	1154
20	Anton De Pasquale	1110
21	Lee Holdsworth	951
22	Simona de Silvestro	942
23	James Golding	923
24	Tim Blanchard	890
25	Richie Stanaway	875
26	Todd Hazelwood	811
27	Macauley Jones	135
28	Kurt Kostecki	90