Shane van Gisbergen wins at the Gold Coast despite penalty

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen won the first race of the Gold Coast 600 weekend, despite co-driver Alexandre Prémat receiving a 10-second penalty for accelerating too soon during a safety car restart.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering duo headed the field from pole, but dropped down after the penalty, which was served by Van Gisbergen during one of his pit stops. The competitors were unable to hold the Kiwi back after the penalty, who fought his way back into the lead to win by six-tenths of a second ahead of Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin.

McLaughlin, with co-driver David Wall, came out in second place after his final stop, with Jamie Whincup claiming third position for Triple Eight.

The final part of the race saw a controversial incident between DJR Penske Ford driver Fabian Coulthard and Holden’s Garth Tander. The two made contact on the main straight, with Coulthard sent spinning into the barriers and retirement. Tander was given a drive-through penalty by the stewards for the incident, as well as a 10-place grid penalty for tomorrow.

Reigning champion Mark Winterbottom came home in fourth position for Prodrive Racing Australia, while James Moffat made it two Volvos in the top five.

There were two safety car sessions in the first part of the race, with Jack Le Brocq crashing on lap 23 and Karl Reindler making contact with the barriers in turn three 12 laps later.

Triple Eight’s Craig Lowndes and the two Nissans of Dale Wood and Todd Kelly rounded out the top eight.

Van Gisbergen heads the championship table by 160 points over team-mate Whincup heading into the second race tomorrow.