Van Gisbergen opens batting with double
Shane van Gisbergen made a dream start to the 2021 Australian Supercars campaign with a pair of wins at Mount Panorama. The overwhelming title favourite wasn’t peerless in terms of pace across the weekend, but two well-executed races and a slice of luck last Saturday helped him stretch his Bathurst winning streak to three on the trot, including last October’s Bathurst 1000.
Saturday’s opening 154-mile heat started out as an enthralling three-way battle between Tickford’s Cam Waters, van Gisbergen, and new Dick Johnson Racing recruit Anton De Pasquale. That was until De Pasquale ran wide at The Cutting on lap seven and clobbered the wall, prompting the first caution of the race.
The field scrambled into the pitlane, early leader Waters taking a long fuel stop as his crew worked under the bonnet of his Ford Mustang. He returned to the track in fifth place but was back in the garage a lap later with a power steering failure.
That left van Gisbergen in control, the Kiwi cruising through the second and third stints to win. He did come under some pressure from a fast-finishing Chaz Mostert in the closing laps, but later admitted he was only pushing as hard as he needed to.
Even better for van Gisbergen was that his two key title rivals failed to fire, De Pasquale scoring nothing and Waters only salvaging a few points in 20th.
Sunday’s action started with controversy. Waters, running third-last in the top 10 qualifying shootout, dragged some dirt onto the circuit on his in-lap. That led to Mostert having a monumental moment through The Esses, while van Gisbergen also lost time in the second sector on his way to pole. Waters was summoned to see driving standards advisor Craig Baird after accusations he had done it deliberately but was later cleared.
Like on Saturday, it was Waters that led the opening stint after jumping van Gisbergen at the start. But once again the first round of stops proved critical, a mega out-lap from van Gisbergen helping him reclaim the lead. Once in front there was no stopping him, van Gisbergen later reflecting on an “insane” second stint that had his Triple Eight Commodore Holden ZB gap Waters’ Mustang. He added: “It was qualifying laps the whole time. It was awesome.” By the finish van Gisbergen was 6.1 seconds ahead of Waters. Mostert cemented second in the standings, 33 points behind van Gisbergen, with third place.
Jamie Whincup made a quiet start to his final campaign as a full-time driver for Triple Eight. The seven-time champion never looked like matching his team-mate, finishing the two races seventh and sixth.
The hard luck story of the weekend was undoubtedly Tim Slade. After a year on the sidelines, he made a sensational return with the new, single-car Blanchard Racing Team. He put his customer Tickford Mustang second on the grid for race one and was in contention for third place – until a gear selection problem led to a high-speed crash on the run to Forrest’s Elbow with five laps to go. The impact ruled the plucky squad out of the rest of the weekend.