Van Gisbergen completes Tasmania Supercars sweep

Shane van Gisbergen has extended his Repco Supercars Championship lead by wrapping up a clean sweep of the Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint at Symmons Plains.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver overtook Will Davison on Lap 3 and effectively led for the remaining 41 laps of Race 5, after winning Race 4 earlier in the day and Race 3 on the afternoon prior.

It was in fact almost a perfect event for van Gisbergen in so much that he also picked up the five bonus points for the fastest lap for the second time in the weekend, and his margin at the top of the standings is now 67 points over Anton De Pasquale.

The Shell V-Power Racing team rounded out the podium placings in Race 5, with Davison passing De Pasquale inside five laps from home due to an error from the man in the #11 Mustang.

All told, the exploits of van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney mean Triple Eight Race Engineering leaves the Apple Isle nine points up on Davison’s and De Pasquale’s Dick Johnson Racing in the teams’ championship.

Davison (#17 Mustang) had qualified on pole position and Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist ZB Commodore) did take the start from the other side of the front row, albeit with somewhat bent steering due to rapid repairs following his Race 4 crash just hours earlier.

Van Gisbergen (#97 ZB Commodore) remained third on the grid while Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) had been relegated from ninth to 13th due to penalties arising from their clash in Qualifying for Race 5.

Le Brocq made a good start and led Davison away from the second corner, with van Gisbergen third, from Todd Hazelwood (#35 Truck Assist ZB Commodore) and De Pasquale.

Behind, the rest of the top 10 initially was David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang), Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore), Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore), and Lee Holdsworth (#10 Penrite Mustang).

Le Brocq only led as far as the Lap 2 at the Hairpin, where a big front lock-up took him long and ultimately down to 23rd.

Van Gisbergen tried to set up another bump-and-side-draft on new race leader Davison on Lap 3, but when that failed, he simply sold a dummy at Turn 6 and then lunged down the inside.

Hazelwood attempted to capitalise at Turn 7, making side-to-side contact which put Davison half into the weeds, and while he got past #17, De Pasquale got past both of them as in the skirmish.

Van Gisbergen moved almost a second clear as a result, but had been caught by De Pasquale after just a couple of laps, before the DJR driver was called into the pits from second place on Lap 10 for a fresh set of rears.

Davison had also dropped behind Reynolds as a result of the Hazelwood clash and was thus an effective fifth when he was into the lane on Lap 12 for rears, before Hazelwood took his service three laps later.

The Matt Stone Racing driver almost maintained position relative to Davison when he got out, but emerged behind as they exited Turn 3, with De Pasquale just up the road.

Van Gisbergen carried on at the head of the field until Lap 23 and, despite losing a tyre in the aforementioned qualifying clash with Slade, still had a green right-rear to put on when the Triple Eight crew changed the hoops on the back of #97.

Furthermore, despite any undercut effect, he was able to get back out with a margin of several tenths of a second over De Pasquale, meaning he retained the effective lead of the race.

When the cycle was complete on Lap 26, van Gisbergen’s margin over #11 was 0.8s, with Davison third from Hazelwood, a late-stopping Reynolds, Waters, Winterbottom, Feeney, James Courtney (#5 Opposite Lock Mustang), and Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore).

Van Gisbergen was a full second to the good at the end of Lap 28, saw his margin briefly cut to as little as 0.6s, but then started to gradually rebuild it.

Reynolds, with the help of fresher right-hand side tyres, pulled off a side-draft on Hazelwood on Lap 37 to move into fourth position, at about 1.8s back from a top three covered by 1.6s.

When De Pasquale went well wide through the Hairpin on Lap 40, Davison was able to overtake his team-mate at the other end of the main straight, although the change of position between the DJR Mustangs was not a planned move.

Van Gisbergen crept further away to a 2.0s advantage with a lap to go, and took the chequered flag 1.1882s on the #17 Ford of Davison.

De Pasquale ended up another 1.6s back in third, and Reynolds a few tenths more behind in fourth.

Hazelwood finished fifth, ahead of Waters, Winterbottom, Feeney, Courtney, and Percat, with Slade 11th.

Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore) finished 19th from 20th on the grid, his cause reportedly not helped by a slow pit stop.

Le Brocq finished on the lead lap in 23rd, and Jake Kostecki (#56 Tradie Mustang) made for 25 finishers from 25 starters despite losing three laps over the journey, apparently due to a power steering problem.

The next event is the Formula 1 Heineken Australian Grand Prix, where the Supercars Championship will have four races at Albert Park on April 7-10.

Results: Race 5, Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint

Fastest lap (bonus): Shane van Gisbergen, 0:52.0117s, Lap 2

Drivers’ championship

Teams’ championship