Shane van Gisbergen has won the second Repco Supercars Championship race in support of the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
Van Gisbergen led home Grove Racing’s David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth following a dramatic final corner where Mobil 1 Optus Racing’s Chaz Mostert spun Tickford Racing veteran James Courtney dropping both out of contention.
Mostert was handed a pit lane penalty after the race for the misdemeanour resulting in 22nd.
Few opted to start on the hard tyre for Race 2 as Will Davison led from van Gisbergen for the opening laps, but it wasn’t long until the Kiwi made his move.
At Turn 6 was where van Gisbergen took the lead from Davison on lap 2 as Jack Smith pitted early, which may have proved pivotal as a safety car period was required after contact between Andre Heimgartner’s R&J Batteries Holden ZB Commodore and the Erebus Motorsport example of Will Brown sent the Kiwi into the wall at Turn 16.
Smith’s pit stop left him trailing and van Gisbergen caught up on his in-lap to pit lane, but he still emerged in the lead ahead of Reynolds.
One to lose majorly in the sequence was Anton De Pasquale as he was first negated by tyres from the Red Bull Ampol Racing team pit box, then was forced to wait for most of the field to pass before stalling.
There was plenty of action upon the restart on lap 7 when Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki and the Shell V-Power Racing Mustang of Davison ran side-by-side through Turn 3 and went wide at the next corner to allow Courtney through to third.
Yesterday’s race winner Mostert was also in the hustle and bustle, with the Monster Energy Racing Mustang of Cam Waters, Lee Holdsworth for Grove Racing and Scott Pye’s Team18 ZB Commodore all fighting as Davison dropped into their clutches.
It all kicked off at Turn 3 when Waters contacted Davison leaving the Shell V-Power Racing Mustang beached in the sand trap.
Again, the race was restarted in lap 12, with van Gisbergen again creating a margin back to Reynolds as Courtney held off Mostert for the final podium spot, despite the reigning Bathurst winner’s best efforts.
Van Gisbergen added another victory to his 2022 tally, with a 2.037s margin back to Reynolds as teammate Holdsworth took advantage of the last corner chaos to seal a double podium result for Grove Racing.
It was a spirited battle between Courtney and Mostert, which heated up on the final lap. Contact was initially made at the penultimate corner when the veteran ran the Mobil 1 Optus Racing Commodore wide, before Mostert returned serve to spin Courtney’s Mustang into the outside wall at Turn 16.
Just missing the podium was Pye from Todd Hazelwood, Garry Jacobson, B. Kostecki, Tim Slade, the recovering Courtney and De Pasquale.
Van Gisbergen now leads the standings by 149-points from De Pasquale
