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Shane van Gisbergen wins first Pukekohe race as Fabian Coulthard rolls

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Shane van Gisbergen claimed victory in the opening race on his home track Pukekohe in New Zealand as Fabian Coulthard retired after a spectacular roll.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver won the race ahead of Prodrive Racing Australia’s Mark Winterbottom while DJR Team Penske driver Scott McLaguhlin claimed the final podium position after a tough fight with Jamie Whincup.

It was after a safety car session to clear Dale Wood, who had gone off track, that disaster struck for Ford driver Coulthard.

Prodrive Racing’s Chaz Mostert triggered the incident by diving down the inside of Erebus Motorsport driver David Reynolds in the fight for fifth position. Mostert hit Reynolds, making them both slow out of the corner, enabling Coulthard to get a run on them.

Coulthard and Reynolds then made contact, sending them into a spin and into the barriers, with Coulthard rolling his DJR Team Penske Ford Falcon, bringing the safety car out again. Both drivers were able to walk away uninjured and Mostert claimed responsibility for the incident after the race.

“It’s not what you want. You go out there, you try to race hard, try to make passes, but I just absolutely ballsed it up,” said Mostert to supercars.com.

“It’s hard on the drivers that are in the car, but it’s especially hard on the crews that have to repair them. Definitely with Fab’s car and Davey I didn’t want to see that happen. Absolutely ballsed it up today.”

McLaughlin almost ended up going off close to where Coulthard rolled earlier in the race after a tough fight with Triple Eight’s Whincup.

McLaughlin managed to get alongside Whincup on lap 18 and the two made contact when side-by-side, resulting in a high-speed slide for the Ford driver. The duo fell behind van Gisbergen and Winterbottom after a safety car session, with McLaughlin getting past Whincup at the restart as McLaughlin returned the favour to Whincup by running him wide.

Prodrive Racing Australia driver Jason Bright came home in fifth position ahead of a Holden trio of Tim Slade in sixth, Garth Tander in seventh and Craig Lowndes rounding off the top eight.

Van Gisbergen’s victory has brought him to fourth in the championship, 159 points from team-mate and championship leader Whincup who is trailed by just 18 points by McLaughlin.