Van Gisbergen wins Race 7 after intense Kostecki battle

Shane van Gisbergen has won Race 7 of the Repco Supercars Championship at Perth’s Wanneroo Raceway after a forceful late pass on Brodie Kostecki.

The two were locked in a vigorous battle for much of the 42-lap opener at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint, with Kostecki getting the early upper hand thanks to a superior start from the outside of the front row.

They diced for the lead just before the Erebus Motorsport driver’s pit stop and again in the final laps when van Gisbergen, who went long, hunted down the #99 Coca-Cola Camaro.

After several bumps, van Gisbergen drove past on Lap 41 and went on to take the chequered flag 0.5949s to the good in the #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro.

Kostecki had his hands full to hold off David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) for third, with Todd Hazelwood (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) climbing to fourth from outside the top 10 and James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) claiming fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang), Tim Slade (#23 Nulon Camaro), Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang), Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang), and Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro).

Kostecki continues to lead the drivers’ championship, by a margin of 76 points over Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang), who salvaged 11th from 15th on the grid.

Van Gisbergen is two points further back while Erebus continues to lead the teams’ championship, by a reduced, 79-point margin over Triple Eight Race Engineering.

When the lights went out to signal race start, Kostecki bested van Gisbergen from the outside of the front row and took the lead, with Reynolds slotting into third, from Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro), Payne, and Randle.

Davison emerged seventh and Courtney eighth after they made contact at Turn 1, ahead of Slade, Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro), and Feeney.

That top 11 remained as you were until Hazelwood went under Feeney at Turn 1 on Lap 7, with the Triple Eight driver then having to hold off Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Nick Percat as they rubbed on exit.

Percat stopped at the end of that lap for fresh working side tyres on the #2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang, as van Gisbergen kept himself within half a second of Kostecki.

As pit stops continued around the back end of the top 10, the drivers at the very head of the field went to battle on Lap 17.

Van Gisbergen showed the nose at ‘Kolb Corner’ (Turn 6) and, when Kostecki went defensive at Turn 7, the Triple Eight pilot performed a criss-cross and picked off Car #99 at the other end of the main straight.

On Lap 18, Kostecki reclaimed the lead for just a moment when he went back down the inside at Turn 7, copping a bump as he then turned into the pits and grabbed more working side tyres.

He rejoined behind Reynolds, who completed his pit stop a lap earlier, but got back ahead of the #26 Mustang within five laps, with a pass at Turn 7.

As is often the case, van Gisbergen ran long, not stopping until the end of Lap 27, when he too was given fresh working side tyres.

Car #97 rejoined in an effective fourth position, behind Kostecki, Reynolds, and Courtney, before overtaking the latter on Lap 30.

Two laps later, van Gisbergen got a run on Reynolds as they exited Kolb and completed the pass before they rounded Turn 7.

By then, Kostecki was 2.2s up the road, while Payne ran in fifth, ahead of Slade, Hazelwood, Davison, Randle, Le Brocq, Feeney, Fullwood, and Mostert.

Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), who qualified 19th, was running 22nd after he spun due to nose-to-rear contact from Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro) as he tried to enter pit lane for his compulsory stop.

Van Gisbergen had caught Kostecki with about three laps to go and began to pepper the rear of the #99 Camaro, as the Erebus driver defended stoutly.

Officials deemed it somewhat too stout when Car #99 was issued a bad sportsmanship flag for blocking with a couple of laps remaining, before van Gisbergen forced his way down the inside at Kolb on Lap 41.

Reynolds tried to buy in as well but Kostecki held him off, as Hazelwood got by Courtney late in the piece to take fourth, while also securing the fastest lap bonus points.

Further back, Le Brocq ended up 12th, Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang) 13th, Fullwood 15th, Percat 17th, Heimgartner 21st, and Waters 22nd, with the incident between the latter two noted by stewards.

Qualifying for Race 8 and Qualifying for Race 9 will be held tomorrow from 09:15 local time/11:15 AEST.

Results: Race 7, Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint Updated

Pos	Num	Team/Sponsor	Driver	Car	Laps	Race time
1	97	Red Bull Ampol Racing	Shane van Gisbergen	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:02.0593
2	99	Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus	Brodie Kostecki	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:02.6542
3	26	Penrite Racing	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:03.0124
4	3	CoolDrive Racing	Todd Hazelwood	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:03.8062
5	5	Snowy River Racing	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:04.9868
6	19	Penrite Racing	Matthew Payne	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:06.8285
7	23	Nulon Racing	Tim Slade	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:06.9093
8	17	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:09.2891
9	55	Castrol Racing	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:09.9837
10	88	Red Bull Ampol Racing	Broc Feeney	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:10.4548
11	25	Mobil 1 Optus Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:11.9158
12	34	Truck Assist Racing	Jack Le Brocq	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:12.3162
13	11	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:13.3645
14	14	Middy’s Racing	Bryce Fullwood	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:14.9706
15	31	Nulon Racing	James Golding	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:14.9487
16	9	Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus	William Brown	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:18.1882
17	2	Mobil 1 NTI Racing	Nick Percat	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:19.8636
18	600	DEWALT Racing	Mark Winterbottom	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:20.0545
19	56	Tradie Racing	Declan Fraser	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:20.5647
20	20	Toyota Forklifts	Scott Pye	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:20.9597
21	8	R&J Batteries Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:24.9475
22	6	Monster Energy Racing	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	42	40:27.6701
23	35	Truck Assist Racing	Cameron Hill	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:29.9497
24	96	Pizza Hut Racing	Macauley Jones	Chev Camaro ZL1	42	40:41.7149
25	4	SCT Motorsport	Jack Smith	Chev Camaro ZL1	39	40:41.9367

Fastest lap (bonus): Todd Hazelwood, 0:55.4566, Lap 30

Drivers’ championship Updated

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Brodie Kostecki	606
2	Chaz Mostert	530
3	Shane van Gisbergen	528
4	William Brown	421
5	Broc Feeney	420
6	Andre Heimgartner	414
7	David Reynolds	411
8	Cameron Waters	395
9	Jack Le Brocq	371
10	Will Davison	331
11	Thomas Randle	318
12	Tim Slade	317
13	Bryce Fullwood	317
14	Matthew Payne	315
15	James Golding	303
16	Todd Hazelwood	302
17	Mark Winterbottom	301
18	Scott Pye	290
19	Anton De Pasquale	283
20	Macauley Jones	230
21	James Courtney	225
22	Jack Smith	208
23	Declan Fraser	207
24	Cameron Hill	193
25	Nick Percat	153

Teams’ championship Updated

Pos	Num(s)			Team	Pts
1	9	99		Erebus Motorsport	1027
2	88	97		Triple Eight Race Engineering	948
3	19	26		Grove Racing	726
4	8	14		Brad Jones Racing	701
5	2	25		Walkinshaw Andretti United	683
6	5	6		Tickford Racing	620
7	23	31	(400)	PremiAir Racing	620
8	11	17		Dick Johnson Racing	614
9	(18)	20	600	Team 18	591
10	34	35		Matt Stone Racing	564
11	55	56		Tickford Racing	525
12	4	96		Brad Jones Racing	408
13	3			Blanchard Racing Team	302