Shane van Gisbergen leads another Triple Eight 1-2 at Townsville
Shane van Gisbergen claimed Triple Eight Race Engineering’s second 1-2 of the Supercars championship weekend at Townsville, beting team-mate Jamie Whincup by eight tenths of a second.
Van Gisbergen started from pole position and claimed the lead at the start, but it was Whincup who took command during the middle part of the race.
The Kiwi driver was able to fight back and made his move with 27 laps left and kept the lead until the end of the race.
Scott McLaughlin claimed the final podium position for DJR Team Penske, having started seventh on the grid after struggling in the top ten shootout earlier today.
The Ford driver was challenged by Holden driver Craig Lowndes toward the end of the race but was able to stay ahead, with Lowndes claiming fourth position.
Tickford Racing driver Chaz Mostert was another driver to fight his way up through the field from 12th on the grid to finish fifth ahead of Erebus Motorsport driver David Reynolds.
Rick Kelly was again the top Nissan Motorsport driver in seventh position. Kelly started third but was not able to keep up with the leaders, dropping down the order as the race progressed.
There was drama for the Nissan Motorsport team at the start of the race as Simona De Silvestro turned around team-mate Michael Caruso in the second corner of the first lap. De Silvestro got a 15-second penalty for the incident.
Garth Tander and Richie Stanaway came together in the same corner, sending Stanaway into a spin and awarding Tander with a 15-second penalty as well.
The final part of the race saw a safety car session as Nissan driver Caruso was turned into a spin by Anton De Pasquale. Caruso spun into a tyre bundle and retired, an incident that will be investigated after the race.
McLaughlin continues on top of the points, leading race winner van Gisbergen by 131 points while Reynolds is third, 387 points behind.
The Supercars championship continues on July 20-22nd at Queensland Raceway.
