The Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Will Davison has won Race 27 of the Repco Supercars Championship at Pukekohe after effectively leading all 41 laps.

Davison prevailed in the opening race at the ITM Auckland SuperSprint by a margin of 0.8650s over Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner, around one second less than the gap had been when a Safety Car period set up a five-lap dash to the chequered flag.

Heimgartner profited from good pace and a tidy pit stop for the #8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore to jump pole-sitter Cameron Waters, who finished third in the #50 Monster Energy Mustang.

Fourth went to Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore) and fifth to championship leader Shane van Gisbergen, who nabbed the fastest lap bonus points right at the death in the #97 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore.

In the drivers’ standings, van Gisbergen’s margin is a slightly reduced 493 points over Waters, with Davison five points further back in third.

Waters started Race 27 of the season on the inside of the front row but it was the Dick Johnson Racing drivers on the outside of the first two rows who got the jump.

Davison (#17 Mustang) led team-mate De Pasquale (#11 Mustang), Waters, Mostert, Heimgartner, Scott Pye (#20 Nulon ZB Commodore), and van Gisbergen through Turn 1.

Around the cusp of the top 10, Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) cranked sideways due to contact with James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) in a four-wide squeeze and while he saved that, he then nosed into the barrier at Turn 4 and would retreat to the pits.

Heimgartner passed Mostert into the chicane complex and van Gisbergen was sixth when he went under Pye through Turn 1 on Lap 2, while the top three continued to circulate a few tenths of a second apart.

Davison skipped to a 1.7s advantage on Lap 8 when Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s ZB Commodore), who had not long pitted, scrambled the pack somewhat after rejoining.

Such traffic continued to play a part and Davison was a full three seconds to the good on Lap 14, a margin which he essentially maintained until De Pasquale pitted for a fresh set of rears on Lap 17.

However, he overshot his box and when Mostert pitted a lap later, he got out ahead of the #11 Mustang in an effective change for position.

Waters and Heimgartner stopped on Lap 19, the former for working side tyres and the latter for rears, and BJR got its man out ahead of Tickford Racing’s, with Waters resuming just ahead of Mostert.

Davison ceded the lead when he pitted on Lap 20 for rears, leaving van Gisbergen out front running longer, as per usual.

However, the championship leader lacked the pace to really make the overcut work this time around, and Triple Eight Race Engineering opted for three tyres when he stopped on Lap 25.

Van Gisbergen merged just behind Pye before passing the Team 18 entry for an effective sixth position at the Hairpin on Lap 27, and the pit cycle was done when Lee Holdsworth (#10 Penrite Mustang) took service on Lap 29.

Davison led then by 1.9s from Heimgartner, a serious net gain for Car #8, followed by Waters, Mostert, De Pasquale, van Gisbergen, Pye, Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore), Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore), and David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang).

First to second was still 1.7s when a Safety Car was called on Lap 32 due to Macauley Jones being stopped off drivers’ right of the back ‘straight’ with front-end damage to the #96 Kubota ZB Commodore.

Ominously, van Gisbergen had not long rest the fastest lap with his three fresh tyres, and hence was one to watch when the race restarted with five laps to go.

Heimgartner went with Davison at the jump while van Gisbergen was rebuffed by De Pasquale when they arrived at the Hairpin, although how much of that was defensive and how much of that was the DJR man himself looking at Mostert is not clear.

Two laps later, van Gisbergen showed the nose at the same spot and they ran side-by-side all the way to the final corner, where the Triple Eight driver finally completed the pass.

Meanwhile, Davison had reset the fastest lap on Lap 38 and moved to 0.6s up on Heimgartner, a gap which was about the same with a lap to go.

The DJR driver looked to have put an exclamation mark on his victory with a 1:02.9559s on the final lap, only for van Gisbergen to pinch the five bonus points when he clocked a 1:02.9504s as he took the chequered flag in fifth, behind Waters and Mostert.

Sixth went to De Pasquale, from Feeney, Percat, Reynolds, and Pye, while the top 20 finished on the lead lap.

Jake Kostecki (#56 Tradie Mustang) got home three laps down in 21st but faces a post-race investigation after not only being released into the path of Tickford team-mate Courtney during his pit stop, but also losing a rear wheel as he tried to exit his bay.

UPDATE: Tickford penalised

Fullwood and Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist ZB Commodore) were classified as finishers despite both spending time in the garage due to power steering dramas, with Jones and Slade the two DNFs.

Qualifying for Race 28 and Qualifying for Race 29 take place tomorrow from 10:45 local time/08:45 AEST.

Results: Race 27, ITM Auckland SuperSprint

Fastest lap (bonus): Shane van Gisbergen, 1:02.9504, Lap 41

Drivers’ championship

Teams’ championship Updated