Shane van Gisbergen equals Brock with Sunday double in Darwin

Shane van Gisbergen has extended his lead in the Supercars standings after a double win in Sunday’s two races in Darwin allowed him to move level with Peter Brock on the all-time winners list.

Qualifying for the two Sunday races had seen Will Davison score pole for DJR but van Gisbergen – looking to rebound from his disappointing result in the opening race – was able to make the best start when the second race of the weekend got underway.

Blasting ahead of the Mustang into turn one, van Gisbergen secured the race lead and would be untroubled right through to the finish, remaining out front after the mandatory stops and wrapping up victory ahead of Davison to extend his advantage in the championship standings.

Davison almost dropped behind Mark Winterbottom at the start but was able to hold on to second place and he would then hold his spot right through to the finish, with team-mate Anton de Pasquale and Winterbottom following behind in the early stages.

De Pasquale would drop out of the fight for third as a result of an issue in the pits, with race one winner Chaz Mostert instead jumping up the order after WAU gambled on bringing him in early for his mandatory stop.

Mostert had used the early trip to the pits and the subsequent run in clear air to cycle his way up into third spot behind Davison but came under pressure from Jamie Whincup late on after he went long on the first stint and then pitted late.

The fresher tyres would prove to be key as Whincup got ahead in the closing laps with a solid move at turn one, with the former champion completing the podium places.

Winterbottom then put pressure on Mostert for fourth place but was unable to get ahead and had to settle for fifth, with de Pasquale in sixth after his earlier delay, with Cam Waters, Will Brown, Nick Percat and James Courtney rounding out the top ten.

The start of race three would follow a similar story, with van Gisbergen getting ahead of Davison on the run to turn one.

That would prove to be the key moment as the Triple Eight driver was able to keep Davison at bay through the opening stint. Davison pitted first of the pair in an attempt to get the undercut but van Gisbergen remained out front when he then stopped and having emerged out front, duly wrapped up his second win of the day.

That win would be the 48th for the Kiwi in the series, and means he has now moved level with the legendary Brock in terms of wins.

De Pasquale ran third at the start with Whincup dropping down the order to seventh after being run out wide by James Courtney mid-way round the opening lap.

Whincup had started to work his way back up the order and then cleared de Pasquale when the pair pitted together and the DJR driver stalled when leaving the box.

By the time the field had all stopped, Whincup would find himself in third spot and he once again found himself dicing with Mostert for the remainder of the race – holding on to secure the place as the podium places from race two were repeated.

Courtney went long on his first stint but the call would prove to be the wrong one as he was left in fifth, with Percat rounding out the top six.

Winterbottom, Waters, Tim Slade and Brown completed out the top ten.

Van Gisbergern now leads the standings ahead of Whincup by 221 points.