Shane Van Gisbergen wins red-flagged final race of 2014
Shane Van Gisbergen claimed the final race victory of the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship season under dramatic circumstances as the race once again was red flagged due to a major thunderstorm.
Volvo Polestar Racing driver Scott McLaughlin had started from pole position but lost the lead to Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander heading into the first corner.
The drivers started the race on wet tyres on a wet but drying track. Tekno Autosports’ driver Van Gisbergen quickly fought his way past both McLaughlin and Tander within the first three laps to take the lead.
The track dried up and all drivers switched to slicks in their first pit stop. The race was quite uneventful after the first stop with the drivers trying to stretch their stint as long as possible with the radar images warning of a thunderstorm closing in on the track.
The rain started to fall around lap 36 which saw all drivers darting to the pits to change back to wets. Tander stayed out longer on slicks compared to the other drivers in the top and was able to get the undercut on Van Gisbergen to take the lead.
The duo fought furiously, but Tander made a mistake just as the safety car was called out on track due to the worsening conditions. The Holden driver braked too late in Turn 9 and overshot, handing over the lead to Van Gisbergen.
The field drove behind the safety car during a couple of laps before the red flags were brought out. The race was initially only suspended with the race directors hoping for the weather to get better. But as conditions went from bad to worse, the race was abandoned and the results declared final.
Van Gisbergen therefore claimed victory and moves up to take the runners-up spot in the championship, as his main championship rivals, Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and Triple Eight’s Craig Lowndes once again failed to finish in the top.
Lowndes finished 17th after making a mistake early on which dropped him to last position.
Winterbottom finished 19th after a number of dramas, including being forced to take the escape road of the first corner on lap one and nudging the wall in Turn 8.
James Courtney made it two Holden Racing Team drivers on the podium with newly crowned champion Jamie Whincup finishing fourth ahead of FPR’s Chaz Mostert.
Tim Slade, who had an issue with a stuck air jack, managed to bring his Walkinshaw Racing Holden Commodore after making up ground as the first driver to make the move to slicks earlier in the race to home in sixth position ahead of the top placed Nissan of Rick Kelly in seventh.
Pole man McLaughlin finished eighth after losing vital time in his first pit stop after being blocked in by another driver. Brad Jones Racing’s Jason Bright and Erebus Mercedes’ Will Davison rounded out the top ten.
The 2015 V8 Supercars Championship starts on March 1st with the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.
