Van Gisbergen takes second career win at Darwin

Shane van Gisbergen has taken his second win in race two at Darwin, denying Triple Eight’s Craig Lowndes in the closing stages of the race.

The 22-year-old New Zealander overtook Craig Lowndes with three laps to go, using his fresher soft tyres.

Mark Winterbottom had led the race in the early stages as he had yesterday, but fell behind first Lee Holdsworth’s GRM Commodore and then points leader Jamie Whincup before the first pit stop sequence.

Whincup looked strong in the mid part of the race, but it was Triple Eight team-mate Craig Lowndes and Stone Brothers Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen were charging through the field on their soft tyres after the final stop.

After a late race safety car after a crash for Karl Reindler’s Britek Commodore, Craig Lowndes passed team-mate Whincup for the lead on the restart with Mark Winterbottom soon following through.

Van Gisbergen then passed Whincup one lap later, then overtook Winterbottom for second on lap 64 and took the lead from Lowndes on lap 67 and held on for the win.

“I could see Craig was in trouble with his rear tyres and I didn’t have much left when I passed him either. But it’s perfect for our championship,” said van Gisbergen.

Whincup still has a strong lead in the championship on 1,395 points, with Craig Lowndes on 1,239 in second place. Shane van Gisbergen has now jumped to third in the standings on 1,134 ahead of Rick Kelly.

A double DNF for Jason Bright was a disaster for the Brad Jones Racing driver, tumbling down to 10th in the standings.

A poor weekend for the Holden Racing Team sees Garth Tander seventh and James Courtney in 16th place in the points order, whilst FPR drivers Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom are now sixth and ninth.

The next race is at Townsville, Queensland on 9th-10th July.