Van Gisbergen claims opener
DEFENDING series champion Shane van Gisbergen has picked up where he left off in 2016, claiming victory in the Supercars season opener in Adelaide yesterday.
Pole sitter van Gisbergen finished almost 15 seconds ahead of Ford’s Fabian Coulthard with Holden’s James Courtney third in sweltering conditions on the tough 3.2km street circuit.
Flying Kiwi van Gisbergen broke Red Bull Racing (RBR) Holden team-mate Jamie Whincup’s race lap record of one minute, 21.05 seconds on his way to victory in the scorching 78-lap opener. It was the 20th career win for SVG.
The opening round concludes with another 250km event today.
‘‘What a great first day. Awesome race, great strategy and hopefully we can do it again tomorrow,’’ van Gisbergen said.
Dunlop claimed ‘‘all’’ lap records would come under threat this year after introducing a faster — yet durable — soft control tyre this season.
And van Gisbergen didn’t waste time entering his name in the record books in Adelaide.
He celebrated with a trade- mark burnout in front of the packed Adelaide venue – much to his regret afterwards.
‘‘We probably should have got some tyre data from that but you have to have some fun,’’ van Gisbergen said.
Van Gisbergen maintained Holden’s dominance despite pressure from new Ford threat, Coulthard’s DJR Team Penske.
The Kiwi’s dominant victory snapped six-time series champion Jamie Whincup streak of winning every season opening race since 2014.
Reigning Bathurst champion Will Davison was one of two who failed to finish after hitting the GETTY IMAGES wall on turn eight on the very first lap.
The brutally hot cabin conditions nudging 70 degrees claimed an exhausted Taz Douglas by lap 50.
The Holden driver was pulled from the car by his crew after ‘‘talking gibberish’’ during a pit stop following a cool suit failure.
Douglas who was a last minute entry to help out old mate Lucas Dumbrell’s Holden team.
Dumbrell would have been fined up to $200,000 if he did not field a second car in Adelaide.
Supercars first fulltime female driver Simona de Silvestro finished 20th.