Supercars Auckland: Van Gisbergen doubles up in final Pukekohe thriller

For the second race running it was a dramatic first lap, James Courtney the unlucky driver to end up in the wall this time around.

The veteran found himself sandwiched between Jake Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood on the way into Turn 1 and was fired into the outside wall at speed.

That prompted a lengthy safety car as the ruined Mustang was retrieved and repairs made to the barriers.

The race didn't resume until lap 12, Will Davison comfortably leading Cam Waters, Anton De Pasquale and Broc Feeney across the first stint.

Van Gisbergen, meanwhile got past David Reynolds for seventh, but didn't make much headway after that until the stops.

Feeney made his stop on lap 18, followed by De Pasquale and Heimgartner on the next lap.

Heimgartner managed to jump both of those drivers in the process as he took over the effective third position.

On lap 21 Waters took his service which prompted Davison to cover from the lead a lap later.

That was when Davison's race, and his shot at the Jason Richards Trophy, unravelled, his car released without its left-rear properly attached.

That left Waters in the lead, while van Gisbergen, who stopped on lap 25, emerged as a contender as he jumped Feeney in the stops and set after Heimgartner.

He passed his fellow Kiwi at the chicane on lap 31 before hunting down Waters.

The pair then staged a thrilling battle for the lead as van Gisbergen consistently tried to pass Waters at the hairpin, and Waters defended staunchly through the fast complex onto the main straight.

The battle turned physical on lap 35 when van Gisbergen got into the back right rear quarter of Waters through Turn 11.

Three laps later, and three laps from the end, the hometown hero finally got the jump done, sliding up the inside of Waters at Turn 11 to seal victory in the final ever Supercars race at Pukekohe.

The win also sealed the Jason Richards Trophy for van Gisbergen in what was a fitting end to the Pukekohe era.

Van Gisbergen will now head to the Bathurst 1000 with a 525-point series lead over Waters.

Waters finished second while Heimgartner made it two Kiwis on the podium with third place.

Feeney came home a solid fourth ahead of De Pasquale, Chaz Mostert and Scott Pye.

Reynolds finished eighth from Nick Percat and Tim Slade, while Davison was left down in 22nd after making a second stop to have his wheel issue rectified, and copping a 15-second penalty for an unsafe release.

Supercars Auckland - Race 3 Results

Cla	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap	Interval
1	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	41
2	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	41	1.116	1.116
3	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore ZB	41	1.627	0.511
4	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB	41	3.214	1.587
5	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	41	5.627	2.413
6	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	41	6.228	0.601
7	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	41	7.417	1.189
8	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	41	8.518	1.101
9	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	41	12.632	4.114
10	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	41	12.964	0.332
11	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	41	18.022	5.058
12	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	41	18.943	0.921
13	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	41	24.662	5.719
14	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	41	25.318	0.656
15	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	41	25.619	0.301
16	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	41	26.761	1.142
17	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	41	27.225	0.464
18	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	41	31.827	4.602
19	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	41	32.487	0.659
20	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	41	34.659	2.173
21	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	41	37.293	2.633
22	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	40
23	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	34
	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	0
View full results

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering (Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics)

Van Gisbergen wins crash-marred Race 2

Shane van Gisbergen won the Sunday Supercars opener at Pukekohe that was rocked by a frightening first-lap crash for Will Brown.

The race got off to a dramatic start after second-row starter Anton De Pasquale was shuffled to the back end of the top 10 in the first few corners.

He then made contact with Brodie Kostecki on the exit of Turn 6 which fired the Shell Ford into the wall.

However there was an even bigger impact at Turn 10 when Will Brown clashed with Mark Winterbottom and hit the wall hard.

The race was red-flagged due to the a concrete wall near pit entry being shifted by the crash, while medical crews had to work on a winded Brown trackside before he was transferred to the medical centre.

Supercars later confirmed that Brown wasn't seriously injured while Winterbottom was hit with a pitlane penalty for his role in the incident.

The race got back underway on the sixth lap with van Gisbergen initially leading Will Davison.

However a failed attempt to wrangle the lead from van Gisbergen on the outside at Turn 8 on the restart lap proved costly for Davison, who was run wide and dropped back to fourth behind Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters.

Van Gisbergen continued to lead by around a second until the lead group started their stops when Waters pitted on lap 16.

Mostert and Davison followed suit a lap later before van Gisbergen covered them all off the next time round, the top four resuming in the same order.

They stayed that way until the time certain finish too, van Gisbergen ensuring the Pukekohe farewell will feature at least one Kiwi victory as he crossed the line 2.3s clear of Mostert.

Scott Pye finished Race 2 fifth behind Waters and Davison, with Andre Heimgartner sixth, David Reynolds seventh and Broc Feeney eighth.

Jake Kostecki put in a solid effort to finish ninth ahead of James Golding.

Supercars Auckland - Race 2 Results

Cla	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap	Interval
1	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	36
2	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	36	2.3986	2.3986
3	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	36	4.4748	2.0762
4	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	36	6.9476	2.4728
5	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	36	11.8098	4.8622
6	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore ZB	36	12.2091	0.3993
7	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	36	19.7579	7.5488
8	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB	36	22.0980	2.3401
9	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	36	23.7599	1.6619
10	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	36	24.1542	0.3943
11	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	36	26.8516	2.6974
12	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	36	27.5987	0.7471
13	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	36	32.7086	5.1099
14	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	36	33.1104	0.4018
15	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	36	36.2082	3.0978
16	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	36	38.5751	2.3669
17	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	36	42.1043	3.5292
18	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	36	42.4732	0.3689
19	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	36	42.8797	0.4065
20	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	36	43.7785	0.8988
21	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	36	53.1711	9.3926
22	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	35	1 Lap	1 Lap
	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	30	6 Laps	5 Laps
	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	0
	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	0
View full results