Spanish sweep for Shane van Gisbergen as he takes Eseries round win

Former Supercars series champion Shane van Gisbergen has finally taken his first wins in the Supercars Eseries after dominating the two closing races of round two at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, converting pole to victory for Triple Eight.

The seasoned sim-racer and 2016 Supercars champion put a tough opening round behind him to collect the round win and show up his rivals, including Formula One driver and Team Redline team-mate Max Verstappen who starred in a wildcard outing.

Catalunya provided high drama in just the first sector of race one as van Gisbergen converted off the line while pole-sitter Anton de Pasquale was swamped, dropping down the order in the Erebus Motorsport entry.

Championship leader and two-time winner in the opening round Scott McLaughlin went from hero to zero at the first turn, threatening to take the lead but spinning all on his own which dropped the DJR Team Penske car to the back of the pack while his Kiwi compatriot van Gisbergen streaked away in the lead.

Following on from the Red Bull one-two at the front of the pack with van Gisbergen leading from Max Verstappen, the Erebus duo of de Pasquale and Brown held down third and fourth as Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Bryce Fullwood took hold of a comfortable fifth position.

With not much pressure from behind, van Gisbergen came through to claim his first Eseries win, making amends for a tough opening round while Verstappen again took second place for the second time across the night. Polesitter de Pasquale recovered to third ahead of team-mate Brown with Fullwood in fifth. Brad Jones Racing’s Nick Percat improved to sixth ahead of Will Davison with Andre Heimgarter, Cam Waters and Jake Kostecki rounding out the ten.

The usual race two madness got underway shortly after the first turn, triggered by de Pasquale spinning from second in front of the field as nearly everyone suffered contact. van Gisbergen retained the lead from pole with Verstappen in second, McLaughlin applying pressure to the Dutchman in third.

Both Erebus Motorsport cars got affected in the melee through the opening corners, each dropping out of the top 20 after being touted as favourites for the 11 lap clash. With a compulsory pit stop to take, the field started to file into the lane in the first few laps to get it out of the way but with the caveat of having to run longer on old tyres.

Engaging in another all-Kiwi battle, Andre Heimgartner was lucky to not suffer damage after being half-spun by Fabian Coulthard, the Kelly Racing and DJR Team Penske drivers making contact on the fourth lap as the former decided to back out of the fight.

Verstappen and McLaughlin both came in for their stops at the start of lap five, giving van Gisbergen some breathing room and both returning to the circuit in the same order as they entered the lane with clear air. It took van Gisbergen two laps to respond to the threat, ending up behind Verstappen but with fresh tyre life with five laps to run.

The two three of Verstappen, van Gisbergen and McLaughlin continued to stretch a lead out front as the Tickford Racing cars of Cam Waters and Will Davison held down the last spots in the top five, holding out hope for a safety car to get back in the mix.

Setting up a run into Turn One at the start of lap nine, van Gisbergen got by Verstappen to take the lead and relinquish his team-mate to second place, both able to get away from McLaughlin who was running a relatively distant third place.

No one could touch van Gisbergen throughout the two races, the 2016 series champion claiming his second win of the night and with it the round victory for the second iteration of the Supercars Eseries. Verstappen held off McLaughlin for third in his wildcard start while the Tickford cars of Waters and Davison took fourth and fifth.

The double-ups of team results didn’t end with Matt Stone Racing’s Jake Kostecki and Garry Jacobson able to provide a strong finish for the team with sixth and seventh respectively, their team-mate Zane Goddard finalising the top ten with Heimgartner and Coulthard getting themselves between the MSR cars.

Round three for the championship will see the field take on the famous Mount Panorama for the only single-track