Van Gisbergen ‘stoked’ to finally win great race
MOTORSPORT
SYDNEY: New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen yesterday won his first Bathurst 1000 in front of a small crowd around a Mount Panorama circuit that is normally teeming with hundreds of thousands of spectators.
Australian Cameron Waters, who had started on pole, finished second, while Chaz Mostert was third in The Great Race, which normally attracts 200,000 enthusiasts to the inland city about 200km from Sydney.
Restrictions to curb the spread of Covid19 limited the number of fans this year to just 4000 per day.
Van Gisbergen and codriver Garth Tander’s win will erase some bitter memories from 2019 when they finished second behind Scott McLaughlin, who finished fifth yesterday.
‘‘It was just awesome,’’ van Ginsbergen, who also had to contend with two safety cars in the final 10 laps while he fought off a fastfinishing Waters, said.
‘‘Stoked to finally win this race.
‘‘The team did a faultless job. ‘‘What a great way to send out Holden,’’ he added of the car which is being discontinued.
New Zealander McLaughlin had already secured his third successive Supercars championship title in the last race in South Australia in a season that was badly affected by the pandemic.
Fourtime race winner Jamie Whincup crashed out on the 33rd lap after taking the fourth corner, known as The Cutting, too wide as he headed up the mountain and crashed into the safety barriers.
‘‘I was pushing hard to get through and trying to get up the road,’’Whincup, whose codriver was seventime winner Craig Lowndes, said.
‘‘In hindsight I should have waited another lap.’’
The crash dropped him to fourth in the overall championship standings with Waters moving into second and van Gisbergen to third. — Reuters