It was the lead Tickford cars that got the best of the start, shock polesitter Zak Best holding onto the lead as Cam Waters snuck under van Gisbergen at Turn 1.
Best then settled into what looked to be a comfortable one-second lead ahead of his teammate.
Initially the greatest threat to his lead came from race control which reviewed a suspected jump start before deciding against any further action.
As Best continued to lead across the first stint there was a change of position behind on lap seven when van Gisbergen dived inside Waters at Turn 1 to claim second.
He then turned the heat onto Best, eventually getting through to the lead at Turn 3 on lap 11.
Waters took his mandatory service right before the lead changed hands, resuming behind an early-stopping Will Davison.
Best followed suit on lap 12 and resumed behind Waters, while van Gisbergen trucked on with an overcut strategy.
Chaz Mostert brought himself into the game with a reasonably long first stint, a lap 15 stop bringing him out between Waters and Best.
A lockup and trip across the gravel for Waters at Turn 1 on lap 17 then helped Mostert close up on Waters before he charged into third place.
Van Gisbergen waited until lap 20 to take his service, the Kiwi resuming in a comfortable lead over Davison and Mostert.
From there he could just manage the gap back to the field as he cruised to victory.
"The car was magic," said van Gisbergen. "I've been struggling with my driving but the car has been really good. Just hard to drive, but racing under the limit it was fine.
"I had a great battle at the start with Cam and Zak, he was driving really well as well. But it cost us some time so we had to run long to get some clear air. It was an awesome day."
Van Gisbergen now leads by 323 points which means he has more than a round up his sleeve.
Davison did well in the second stint to nurse tyres that had been on the car since lap 5 to second place.
He was followed home by Mostert and the two Tickford drivers Waters and Best.
Brodie Kostecki finished sixth ahead off Broc Feeney and David Reynolds, while Anton De Pasquale dropped back to ninth.
Andre Heimgartner recovered from his slightly underwhelming qualifying effort by moving up to 10th in the race.
The Bend SuperSprint continued with two more races tomorrow.
The Bend SuperSprint Race 1 results
| Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 97 |
 Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore ZB | |||
| 2 | 17 |
 Will Davison | Ford Mustang GT | 2.2227 | ||
| 3 | 25 |
Chaz Mostert | Holden Commodore ZB | 4.0888 | ||
| 4 | 6 |
Cameron Waters | Ford Mustang GT | 10.4553 | ||
| 5 | 78 | Zak Best | Holden Commodore ZB | 10.8632 | ||
| 6 | 99 | Brodie Kostecki | Holden Commodore ZB | 11.4282 | ||
| 7 | 88 | Broc Feeney | Holden Commodore ZB | 11.7643 | ||
| 8 | 26 |
David Reynolds | Ford Mustang GT | 13.2936 | ||
| 9 | 11 |
Anton De Pasquale | Ford Mustang GT | 13.7233 | ||
| 10 | 8 |
Andre Heimgartner | Holden Commodore ZB | 14.4812 | ||
| 11 | 55 |
Thomas Randle | Ford Mustang GT | 17.1168 | ||
| 12 | 20 |
Scott Pye | Holden Commodore ZB | 18.1578 | ||
| 13 | 2 |
Nick Percat | Holden Commodore ZB | 20.1370 | ||
| 14 | 5 |
James Courtney | Ford Mustang GT | 20.7408 | ||
| 15 | 10 |
Lee Holdsworth | Ford Mustang GT | 21.0182 | ||
| 16 | 18 |
Mark Winterbottom | Holden Commodore ZB | 24.7133 | ||
| 17 | 14 |
Bryce Fullwood | Holden Commodore ZB | 25.0493 | ||
| 18 | 35 |
Todd Hazelwood | Holden Commodore ZB | 25.1013 | ||
| 19 | 31 |
James Golding | Holden Commodore ZB | 25.8861 | ||
| 20 | 9 |
Will Brown | Holden Commodore ZB | 31.3037 | ||
| 21 | 34 |
Jack Le Brocq | Holden Commodore ZB | 32.2222 | ||
| 22 | 96 |
Macauley Jones | Holden Commodore ZB | 32.2805 | ||
| 23 | 3 |
Tim Slade | Ford Mustang GT | 33.0330 | ||
| 24 | 22 |
Chris Pither | Holden Commodore ZB | 35.1432 | ||
| 25 | 49 | Jordan Boys | Holden Commodore ZB | 35.4297 | ||
| 26 | 4 |
Jack Smith | Holden Commodore ZB | 38.7309 | ||
| 27 | 56 |
Jake Kostecki | Ford Mustang GT | 1'05.3206 | ||
| View full results | ||||||
