Van Gisbergen twice denies Whincup
AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS TOWNSVILLE (AUS) 10-11 JULY ROUND 6/12
Jamie Whincup led a significant majority of the laps around the Townsville street circuit last weekend, but it was Shane van Gisbergen who came away with both wins.
The pair of gruelling 250-kilometre heats around the Reid Park track were nearly identical, van Gisbergen running down his Triple Eight Holden team-mate both days.
On Saturday Whincup got the better of polesitter van Gisbergen off the line, the pair then staging a see-sawing battle across the first two stints. Whincup led by three seconds across the first stint, and started the second with nine seconds up his sleeve after van Gisbergen opted to run longer.
But the overcut proved to be the better strategy, van Gisbergen quickly eating into Whincup’s four-second gap early in the third stint before taking over the lead on lap 70. He then pulled more than seven seconds on his team-mate on the 17-lap run home.
Whincup took pole for Sunday’s race and, like on Saturday, led the way across the first two stints. But once again running
longer worked for van Gisbergen, who barged past Whincup at the final corner on lap 76 of 88 to set up his 10th win of the season and 50th of his career.
“I’m obviously rapt for the team result, it couldn’t be a better weekend,” said Whincup. “But there’s a part of me that’s gut-wrenched. I led 140-something laps this weekend and didn’t get any chocolate.”
Anton De Pasquale finished a lonely third in both races with his DJR Ford Mustang.
Van Gisbergen now holds a formidable 245-point series lead over Whincup.