Shane van Gisbergen takes comfortable win in Sydney opener

Shane van Gisbergen secured a comfortable win in the opening race of the weekend in Sydney after issues for Will Brown cost him a shot at a maiden Supercars victory.

Having qualified on pole, Brown was able to hold off the challenge of Whincup through turn one for the first time but behind there was drama for Will Davison as he was forced wide through the high-speed left-hander and slipped back down the order.

Further back, a number of drivers – including soft-shod Gary Jacobson – ran wide at turn two as the field battled for position before things started to settle down.

Brown held station at the front through the early laps before the pitstops were kicked off by Whincup on lap five, who was followed in by Davison. Erebus then called Brown in a lap later to try and avoid the undercut but an issue with the nut on the front right tyre resulted in a long stop that cost him vital time and dropped him down the order.

The early stops left van Gisbergen out front ahead of Jack Le Brocq, who had been the best placed driver to start on the softer tyre having adopted a different strategy to most of the field.

The points leader would retain a lead of around a second over the Ford behind until he pitted at the end of the twelfth lap, with Le Brocq following him in a lap later for his stop.

Once the stops had cycled through, Whincup held the lead of the race ahead of van Gisbergen but it didn’t take long for the positions to swap as van Gisbergen got down the inside out of the final corner at the end of lap 17 to get ahead into the defacto lead of the race – with only Jacobson and Luke Youlden still ahead but yet to pit.

Brown meanwhile found himself down outside the top ten as a result of his pit issue.

As van Gisbergen eased away at the front to secure another win, Davison in third was under pressure from Percat for the final position on the podium.

Despite Percat’s best efforts however, Davison held on to secure third spot, with Todd Hazelwood closing in on the pair in the final stages but having to settle for fifth.

Le Brocq’s alternative strategy saw him take sixth spot ahead of Slade and Cam Waters, with the top ten completed by Scott Pye and Bryce Fullwood.

From the back of the grid after his qualifying issue, Anton De Pasquale took eleventh spot, with the luckless Brown left to wonder what might have been in twelfth.