Supercars Winton: Waters pips van Gisbergen in finale

Waters was the big winner at the start, bolting into the lead through Turns 1 and 2 as he left van Gisbergen - who passed Waters early on in race two to secure an earlier victory - scrapping over second with Andre Heimgartner.

It was a scrap that Heimgartner was up for, too, demoting his fellow Kiwi to third on the exit of Turn 2 before covering smartly into Turn 3 to seal second place.

Heimgartner was initially able to match Waters for pace, the pair separated by around eight tenths for the first five laps.

However around that point Waters was able to break clear, his lead growing as Heimgartner dropped back to van Gisbergen.

On Lap 14 the two New Zealanders traded places, van Gisbergen sliding under Heimgartner on the exit of the sweeper to reclaim second place.

At that point the lead was just under three seconds, but van Gisbergen quickly made inroads on Waters.

The lead was down to around 1.5s on Lap 18 when Waters elected to take his mandatory stop.

For the first time this weekend van Gisbergen went for an overcut, staying out for an extra four laps before hitting the lane.

But his stop itself was costly, a decision to take on three tyres allowing Heimgartner, who stopped on the same lap, to get out ahead.

It didn't take long for van Gisbergen to clear Heimgartner, but it did mean he was well over five seconds adrift of Waters as the stops shook out.

The additional grip from the three-tyre strategy meant van Gisbergen could consistently reel Waters in during the second stint.

Cameron Waters, Tickford Racing (Photo by: Edge Photographics)

But he couldn't quite run the Monster Mustang down, Waters holding on to win by just four-tenths in a finish that was similar to yesterday's opener.

"I'm so pumped to get it done again," said Waters. "Two wins this weekend, absolutely amazing.

"I know Shane took three tyres, I knew he was going to come back at me. He was fast in that first stint. I just tried to press on, maintain as much of a gap as I could, and I held on."

Heimgartner came home a somewhat lonely third while David Reynolds was similarly lonely in fourth place.

Erebus pair Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown were next on the road, however Kostecki was dumped down to 13th, and Brown promoted to fifth, in the final results due to a time penalty for speeding in pitlane.

That elevated Lee Holdsworth to sixth ahead of Broc Feeney, Anton De Pasquale, Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison.

Van Gisbergen now leads De Pasquale in the standings by 281 points, while Waters is now third, another 52 points back.

The season continues next month with the Darwin Triple Crown.

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

Van Gisbergen dominates Race 2 at Winton

In the first race on Sunday at the Winton Supercars round Shane van Gisbergen passed early leader Cam Waters before sprinting to victory.

The first stint was a carbon copy of Saturday's race, Waters leading the way as van Gisbergen sat patiently just under a second behind.

And, like yesterday, it was the Kiwi that prompted the pair to make their stops when he took his mandatory service on Lap 15.

Waters predictably responded by pitting the next lap and once again he resumed right in front of van Gisbergen.

This time, however, van Gisbergen was able to use his warm tyres to his advantage, using an impressively late dive to slide under Waters into Turn 3.

Once in front there was no stopping the series leader, van Gisbergen managing the gap to Waters across the final stint.

The final winning margin was 5.2s while van Gisbergen has a 244-point lead in the series.

David Reynolds came home third after running long and making some key passes in the second stint.

After running fourth in the first stint, Reynolds didn't take his stop until Lap 22. Initially the undercut left him in fifth behind Will Brown and Chaz Mostert, however it didn't take long for the gripped-up Grove Mustang to barge its way into third.

Lee Holdsworth also worked the overcut in the sister Grove car, the veteran not taking his stop until Lap 24.

He popped out behind the likes of Andre Heimgartner, Mostert and Brown but had the grip to run them all down as he sealed fourth place.

Mostert got by Brown on the final lap of the race as the Erebus driver struggled to get his ancient rubber, fitted during a Lap 5 stop, to the finish.

Brown did, however, manage to hang on to sixth place despite having Heimgartner on his bumper right to the flag. James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom were eighth and ninth as Anton De Pasquale rounded out the Top 10.

Supercars Winton - Race 3 results

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	36	-
2	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	36	0.442	0.442	0.442
3	8	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore ZB	36	10.732	10.733	10.290
4	26	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	36	15.256	15.256	4.524
5	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	36	25.565	25.565	10.309
6	10	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	36	27.756	27.757	2.191
7	88	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB	36	28.705	28.706	0.949
8	11	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	36	29.024	29.024	0.318
9	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	36	34.190	34.190	5.166
10	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	36	35.437	35.437	1.247
11	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	36	36.616	36.616	1.179
12	55	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	36	39.024	39.025	2.409
13	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	36	39.276	39.276	0.251
14	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	36	41.858	41.858	2.582
15	2	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	36	43.610	43.610	1.752
16	76	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	36	45.407	45.407	1.797
17	34	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	36	45.642	45.642	0.235
18	35	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	36	50.638	50.638	4.996
19	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	36	53.833	53.833	3.195
20	3	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	36	58.791	58.791	4.958
21	27	Jayden Ojeda	Holden Commodore ZB	36	59.177	59.177	0.386
22	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	36	59.506	59.506	0.329
23	14	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	36	59.524	59.525	0.019
24	49	Jordan Boys	Holden Commodore ZB	36	1'02.336	1'02.337	2.812
25	56	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	36	1'02.636	1'02.636	0.300
26	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	35	1 lap
27	5	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	31	5 laps
View full results

Supercars Winton - Race 2 results

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	36	49'18.290
2	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	36	49'23.589	5.298	5.298
3	26	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	36	49'26.833	8.542	3.243
4	10	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	36	49'33.347	15.057	6.514
5	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	36	49'38.207	19.916	4.859
6	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	36	49'40.121	21.830	1.914
7	8	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore ZB	36	49'40.259	21.969	0.138
8	5	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	36	49'43.116	24.826	2.857
9	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	36	49'43.237	24.947	0.121
10	11	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	36	49'45.093	26.802	1.855
11	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	36	49'45.635	27.345	0.542
12	88	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB	36	49'47.336	29.045	1.700
13	34	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	36	49'58.327	40.036	10.991
14	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	36	49'58.470	40.180	0.143
15	3	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	36	49'58.705	40.414	0.234
16	2	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	36	49'59.030	40.739	0.324
17	35	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	36	50'00.240	41.949	1.210
18	55	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	36	50'01.025	42.734	0.784
19	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	36	50'03.248	44.957	2.223
20	56	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	36	50'03.894	45.603	0.646
21	14	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	36	50'05.569	47.278	1.675
22	27	Jayden Ojeda	Holden Commodore ZB	36	50'10.872	52.581	5.302
23	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	36	50'15.358	57.067	4.486
24	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	36	50'21.948	1'03.658	6.590
25	49	Jordan Boys	Holden Commodore ZB	36	50'26.907	1'08.616	4.958
	76	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	26	42'03.005	10 Laps	10 Laps
	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	18	31'41.009	18 Laps	8 Laps
View full results