Photo: Red Bull Racing Australia

Shane van Gisbergen takes Holden’s 500th V8 Supercars win

By

Shane van Gisbergen claimed Holden’s 500th V8 Supercars and ATCC victory in the first race of the weekend at Symmons Plains, beating team mate Jamie Whincup by one second.

Champion Mark Winterbottom started from pole position but dropped to ninth position after a lengthy pitstop.

Whincup took over the lead from Winterbottom, only to be passed by team mate van Gisbergen in the hairpin.

Will Davison, who has taken over the seat from van Gisbergen at Tekno Autosport was right on the rear bumper of Whincup at the end of the race but had to settle for third ahead of the best Nissan Motorsport driver in the form of Rick Kelly in fourth.

Craig Lowndes made it three Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers in the top five.

Jason Bright claimed sixth position ahead of the best placed Ford driver in the form of Cameron Waters in seventh position.

Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin had a tough race, starting from the pits and being forced to retire after eight laps due to technical issues.