Van Gisbergen goes back-to-back in Darwin

Shane van Gisbergen has extended his Repco Supercars Championship lead with a second straight victory at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown.

As the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver did in Race 13, he got the jump on pole-sitter Will Davison and effectively led all 38 laps in Race 14 of the season at Hidden Valley Raceway.

The top four at the finish was also a repeat, with Davison second in his #17 Shell V-Power Mustang, Jamie Whincup third in the #88 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore, and Chaz Mostert one position off the podium in the #25 Mobil 1 Appliances Online ZB Commodore.

After his eighth win of the campaign, van Gisbergen’s lead on the points table is 221 over Triple Eight Race Engineering team-mate Whincup, with Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Mostert a further nine behind in third.

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“Awesome,” said the race winner.

“Again at the start, I don’t know what’s happened, I got three beauties and yeah, just managed the pace and drove away when tyres were nice.

“Man, I’ve got to thank Red Bull Ampol Racing; our car wasn’t very good and we just chipped away.

“All weekend it’s been really good from the races, so just stoked, it’s awesome.”

When the lights went out, #97 made a good start from the outside of the front row and took a clear lead to the first corner.

Whincup tried to go to the outside of the Dick Johnson Racing Fords Davison and Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) which ran second and third respectively, but got hung wide through and exiting Turn 1.

He dropped back to seventh as a consequence, with fourth through sixth being James Courtney (#44 Boost Mobile Mustang), Nick Percat (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore), and Scott Pye (#20 DeWalt ZB Commodore).

Eighth through 10th once the field had sorted itself out was Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore), Mostert, and Macauley Jones (#96 Coca-Cola ZB Commodore), with Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) 11th.

Whincup went down the inside of Pye at on Lap 3 at Turn 1, then got Percat at the same corner a lap later, with a little tap on the way through.

Van Gisbergen appeared to be backing up the DJR Mustangs in the early stages but pulled a second clear on Lap 6 and doubled that margin in another six laps.

Meanwhile, Winterbottom pitted from eighth on Lap 5 and Percat from sixth on Lap 8, each for another set of rears.

At the end of Lap 14, De Pasquale peeled off from third and Whincup from fifth, the former taking on working side tyres.

They exited the lane in reverse order after the former stalled at the drop, and #11 also lost positions to Percat and Winterbottom by the time he came up to speed.

Davison was 2.4s back from van Gisbergen when he pitted on Lap 15, resuming ahead of Whincup and therefore still in an effective second position.

Team-mate De Pasquale, however, ceded another four positions when he lunged at Winterbottom on Lap 17 and sailed off the race track at Turn 1.

Van Gisbergen and Mostert, the latter officially fourth, stopped at the end of Lap 17, rejoining eighth and 11th respectively, with Davison and Whincup between.

As was also the case in Race 13, Davison gained ground on #97 after the stops, the gap falling below one second within five laps.

The new official leader, Courtney, continued to circulate until Lap 25, but the longer first stint did not seem to cost him too much when he popped out between Mostert and Percat, and thus effectively fifth.

In another repeat of Race 13, the CPS cycle completed when Pye took service at the end of Lap 27, and that was when a problem with the left-rear wheel nut cost him time.

With the order cleansed, van Gisbergen’s advantage over Davison was just above 1.0s, while Whincup held third.

Fourth onwards with 11 laps to go was Mostert from Courtney, Percat, Winterbottom, Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang), Waters, Will Brown (#9 Ozland Group Solutions ZB Commodore), Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang), and De Pasquale.

Waters grabbed eighth when he dived past Slade on Lap 29 at Turn 6, while van Gisbergen’s lead was back above 1.5s as the race ticked into the final five laps.

Randle ran wide at the final corner on Lap 33 and while De Pasquale passed him up the main straight, the Tickford driver reclaimed 11th spot immediately with a bold move under brakes at Turn 1.

Van Gisbergen was continuing to pull away from Davison, and they were separated by 2.3207s at the chequered flag.

Whincup and Mostert were each less than a second further back at the finish, with Courtney fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Percat, Winterbottom, Waters, Slade, and Brown, the latter of whom got the fastest lap bonus points for the first time.

Randle remained 11th and De Pasquale 12th, with Pye claiming 17th.

All 26 starters completed all 38 laps except for Andre Heimgartner, who retired with suspension problems in the #7 Ned Mustang.

The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 on July 9-11.

Results: Race 14, Merlin Darwin Triple Crown

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Car	Laps	Race time
1	97	Red Bull Ampol Racing Team	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	38	43:32.2764
2	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	38	43:34.5971
3	88	Red Bull Ampol Racing Team	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	38	43:35.3072
4	25	Mobil 1 Appliances Online	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	38	43:36.2952
5	44	Boost Mobile Racing	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	38	43:38.0056
6	8	R&J Batteries	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	38	43:44.2052
7	18	IRWIN Racing	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	38	43:44.9363
8	6	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	38	43:45.4817
9	3	CoolDrive Racing	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	38	43:49.9716
10	9	Erebus Motorsport	William Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	38	43:54.3230
11	55	Castrol Racing	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	38	43:54.5787
12	11	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	38	43:55.0274
13	19	Local Legends	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB	38	43:58.8274
14	2	Mobil 1 Middy’s Racing	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	38	43:59.8729
15	5	Truck Assist Racing	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	38	44:00.1774
16	20	DEWALT Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	38	44:02.5390
17	27	Walkinshaw Andretti United	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	38	44:07.6896
18	22	Team SYDNEY	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	38	44:10.6775
19	26	Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	38	44:11.9305
20	96	Coca-Cola Racing	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	38	44:12.7455
21	14	Pizza Hut	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	38	44:14.1256
22	4	SCT Logistics	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	38	44:15.9690
23	35	Yellow Cover Racing	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	38	44:18.9952
24	99	Erebus Boost Mobile Racing	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	38	44:29.8963
25	34	UNIT Racing	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	38	44:30.6723
NC	7	NED Whisky Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	4	8:18.7744

Fastest lap (bonus): William Brown 1:07.1903, Lap 7

Drivers’ championship

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Shane van Gisbergen	1361
2	Jamie Whincup	1140
3	Chaz Mostert	1131
4	Will Davison	1087
5	Cameron Waters	1064
6	Mark Winterbottom	861
7	Nick Percat	827
8	Anton De Pasquale	762
9	James Courtney	744
10	William Brown	741
11	Brodie Kostecki	737
12	Andre Heimgartner	722
13	Scott Pye	690
14	Bryce Fullwood	663
15	David Reynolds	644
16	Jack Le Brocq	634
17	Todd Hazelwood	581
18	Tim Slade	562
19	Jake Kostecki	548
20	Zane Goddard	532
21	Fabian Coulthard	416
22	Jack Smith	382
23	Macauley Jones	378
24	Garry Jacobson	353
25	Thomas Randle	260
26	Kurt Kostecki	222

Teams’ championship

Pos	Car(s)			Team	Pts
1	88	97		Triple Eight Race Engineering	2501
2	11	17	100	Dick Johnson Racing	1849
3	6	44		Tickford Racing	1808
4	2	25		Walkinshaw Andretti United	1794
5	18	20		Team 18	1551
6	9	99		Erebus Motorsport	1478
7	7	26		Kelly Grove Racing	1366
8	8	14		Brad Jones Racing	1322
9	34	35		Matt Stone Racing	1080
10	19	22		Team Sydney	769
11	4	96		Brad Jones Racing	760
12	5			Tickford Racing	634
13	3			Blanchard Racing Team	562
14	55			Tickford Racing	260
15	27			Walkinshaw Andretti United	222