Sandown sweep on the cards for Shane van Gisbergen after mixed condition masterclass

Shane van Gisbergen has again extended his points lead in the Supercars Championship after putting in a commanding drive from pole in mixed, greasy conditions at Sandown Raceway.

The Kiwi was able to carry on his form from winning yesterday’s opening race from 17th on the grid by taking that speed through to the opening Sunday outing, making use of the drying track towards the end to lead home a Triple Eight one-three finish again.

A tight battle for the minor placings was no distraction for the injured championship leader, his title rivals taking points off each other while he cruised to his fifth consecutive race victory.

An even jump off the line between the Triple Eight team-mates meant it was a battle between Jamie Whincup and van Gisbergen into Turn 1, the former prevailing but struggling to keep his team-mate and the Walkinshaw Andretti United car of Chaz Mostert behind.

In the space of half a lap Mostert was able to get a run past van Gisbergen to take second out of Turn 4 and then muscle his way past Whincup coming to the end of the lap. van Gisbergen moved up to second and set his sights on Mostert, the pair going side-by-side out of the final corners on lap two to cross the line door-to-door.

Mostert tried to defend from van Gisbergen but ended up running wide and off through the grass at the penultimate corner, emerging in front of the Triple Eight cars and having to hold station while the safety car was deployed. Macauley Jones suffered an engine failure, having to park up the Brad Jones Racing entry at the exit of Turn 1.

Racing restarted on lap eight, van Gisbergen making short work of Mostert as behind them Whincup lost three spots to Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters, Kelly Grove Racing’s David Reynolds and the second Tickford car of James Courtney, all the while van Gisbergen started to get an air gap out front.

Anton de Pasuqale ended up being the biggest loser after the restart, dropping down the order to 18th in the pack and well below Dick Johnson Racing team-mate Will Davison who had a box seat for Whincup’s charge back past Courtney and Heimgartner for fourth place.

On a drying track lap times started to come down though the field still circulated on the wet Dunlop tyres, a compulsory pit stop needing to be taken by all runners. With a dry line becoming clear, the question surrounded who would be the first to react and put on the slick tyres despite the greasy conditions.

Team 18’s Scott Pye and the Blanchard Racing Team car of Tim Slade were the first to go onto slicks, coming in at the start of lap 20. Waters, Heimgartner and some of the pack behind them followed suit on the next lap with the Tickford car being the only one so far to go out with used front tyres.

Race leaders van Gisbergen and Mostert were the next to react, the latter coming out of the pits with former team-mate Waters hot on his tail, the Tickford car squeezing his way past into Turn 4 to take the effective second spot. With Whincup coming in the next lap, Davison stayed out as the only driver still on the wet tyres, eventually resolving that and joining the rest of the pack on the next tour.

In the lead, van Gisbergen was able to manage a two-and-a-half second gap to Waters as the leading trio kept setting fastest laps of the race, Mostert taking the honour first which was then reduced further by the Tickford car in front, their pace only around a second down on the best lap times from Saturday’s outing.

The woes of de Pasquale continued with an engine problem, the DJR car sounding like it had lost a cylinder and well down on pace up and down the straights, forcing him in to the garage with only ten laps left to run.

Old sparring partners Waters and Mostert soon got even closer on track, the Tickford car being hounded by the WAU machine which only allowed van Gisbergen to skip away up the road and extend his lead. The fight for second place saw the duo bang doors on the run up the back straight and continue their scrap for the next few laps.

Their battle culminated in a clash at Turn 1 with three laps remaining, Mostert spinning Waters who was able to get going ahead of Heimgartner and Waters. Mostert lost a spot to Heimgartner when he redressed the spot to Waters, dropping to fourth though Whincup soon jumped them both, moving himself to third.

The podium from yesterday was replicated with van Gisbergen winning from Waters who held off Whincup for second place, the duo getting away from Mostert who kept Heimgartner at bay for fourth place.

Race five for the championship and the weekend’s last 36 lap outing starts at 1630 local time.