Shane Van Gisbergen wins Melbourne race one
Shane Van Gisbergen claimed the first victory of the V8 Supercars weekend in Melbourne from second on the grid. The Tekno Autosports driver managed to get past pole sitter Michael Caruso on the first lap and pulled up a gap to win by over six seconds.
Reigning champion Jamie Whincup made an excellent start and challenged for the lead on the first lap. But Whincup had to let go of Van Gisbergen as Volvo Polestar Racing driver Scott McLaughlin put hard pressure on him in the fight for second place.
The fight between the Holden and Volvo driver heated up in the first half of the race, with Whincup pushing McLaughlin right up towards the pitwall, a move the Triple Eight Race Engineering driver was given a warning for.
McLaughlin passed Whincup at one stage for second position, only for Whincup to get back past in the next corner. As the race progressed, Whincup managed to get a small gap and McLaughlin had to defend from pole sitter Caruso instead. The positions remained the same for the final couple of laps with Whincup finishing second ahead of McLaughlin and Caruso.
Fabian Coulthard finished fifth ahead of Garth Tander who managed to get past championship leader Craig Lowndes in the final part of the race as Lowndes ran wide.
Nissan drivers James Moffat and Todd Kelly sandwiched the top Ford driver in eighth to tenth position with Chaz Mostert crossing the line in ninth position.
