Van Gisbergen slashes points deficit
AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS TOWNSVILLE (AUS) JULY 7-8 ROUND 8/16
The Triple Eight Holdens were the class of the Supercars field in Townsville. Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen shared the wins to reduce Scott Mclaughlin’s points advantage.
Saturday’s race was a masterclass from Townsville specialist Whincup: the 2017 champion simply stormed past polesitter Mclaughlin at Turn 2 on the second lap and never looked back. He led the race by as much as 15 seconds in what was a devastatingly dominant display, and even a late safety-car restart and spirited challenge from team-mate van Gisbergen could not rattle him.
Whincup’s final winning margin over van Gisbergen was 2.19s. The victory was Whincup’s 10th from the 19 races that had been staged on the hybrid street/ parklands circuit up to that point.
Van Gisbergen gained most from the late restart, putting second beyond doubt after a race-long scrap with Mclaughlin. The two main title contenders were inseparable for much of the race, but lapped traffic on the restart with 13 laps to go helped van Gisbergen build a gap to the DJR Penske Ford.
Fresh from announcing his impending retirement, veteran Craig Lowndes put in an impressive drive to finish fourth, his Triple Eight Holden shadowing van Gisbergen and Mclaughlin for the entire race.
“To be coming here for 10 years and have 10 wins at this place is unbelievable,” said Whincup. “It’s a great feeling but I just want to keep it under wraps and see what we can do tomorrow.”
Despite that dominant Saturday display, Whincup couldn’t quite make it 11 wins from 20 on the Sunday, and instead it was van Gisbergen’s time to shine in the North Queensland sun.
Polesitter van Gisbergen got a free kick in the first stint thanks to Whincup making a slow getaway from the outside of the front row. The four laps Whincup took to reclaim second was enough to let van Gisbergen build a manageable lead, and the gap between the two was just under a second when Whincup made his first stop on lap 18.
Between using the undercut and taking on less fuel, Whincup emerged from the first round of stops with the lead. But a run-in with the lapped Tim Blanchard gave the fast-closing van Gisbergen an opportunity to slip by at the penultimate corner.
On fresher tyres owing to his later first stop, van Gisbergen built a lead of the best part of five seconds before Whincup pitted for the second time on lap 48. Van Gisbergen followed suit a lap later and rejoined with a handy advantage.
With eight laps to go the safety car was called after Anton de Pasquale fired Michael Caruso into an infield tyre barrier. That did give Whincup a sniff, but van Gisbergen was up to the task of controlling the five-lap run to the flag after the restart.
“I got an awesome start and led into
Turn 1 before settling into a rhythm, but Jamie was just quicker in the first stint,” said the race winner. “Across the second and third stints of the race my car just got better and better.”
Mclaughlin finished third for a second day in a row, although this time it required a recovery drive. A poor effort in the top 10 qualifying shootout meant he started seventh, which became 11th on the first lap because of a sluggish start. He recovered to ninth on track before pitting on lap 13 for clear air, which gave him the track position he needed to secure the final podium spot.