Sunday’s opening encounter for the Repco Supercars Championship at Pukekohe Park Raceway proved chaotic, but Red Bull Ampol Racing Team’s Shane van Gisbergen led from start-to-finish taking an emotional victory.
Van Gisbergen finished clear of Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert and title contender Cameron Waters in the Monster Energy Racing Ford Mustang.
The opening lap has left a couple of teams with work to do after first contact between Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale and Brodie Kostecki in the Boost Mobile Racing by Erebus ZB Commodore, spun the Ford Mustang causing considerable damage.
Further chaos occurred exiting the hairpin when IRWIN Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and Kostecki’s teammate Will Brown bumped, sending the latter off near the pit entry at high speed, with his Commodore out for the final race of the weekend.
A red flag came out, but the race was restarted and van Gisbergen was under immediate pressure from Will Davison, however the Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustang was sent around the outside at the hairpin dropping back where contact was made with Waters.
Damage was accrued by both, but Waters still managed to finish third ahead of Davison, with Scott Pye in the Nulon Racing Commodore fifth.
After a strong qualifying performance, Broc Feeney dropped from the lead pack after running wide entering the main straight, while Winterbottom was penalised for the Brown incident to finish last of the runners in 22nd.
Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Andre Heimgartner, David Reynolds, Broc Feeney, Jake Kostecki and James Golding.
The final race for the Repco Supercars Championship at Pukekohe Park Raceway is scheduled to commence at 4:10 PM (2:10 PM AEST).