Van Gisbergen dominates Race 32, T8 wins Supercars teams’ championship

Shane van Gisbergen has dominated Race 32 on the Gold Coast, with his win unofficially clinching the Supercars teams’ championship title for Red Bull Ampol Racing.

A day after sealing the drivers’ title with victory in Race 31 at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, van Gisbergen prevailed again in similar fashion, passing Will Davison for the lead on Lap 11 and prevailing by 2.1096s over runner-up Chaz Mostert after 85 laps of racing, having been six seconds to the good at the time of a late Safety Car.

Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Davison completed the podium at another 1.3926s back from the #25 Mobil 1 Optus ZB Commodore in a race in which there were only 18 classified finishers from 25 starters.

Almost all of the attrition was due to an almighty crash on Lap 4, set off when James Golding made a mess of the Beach Chicane complex, dislodging a tyre bundle and causing a pile-up which temporarily blocked the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.

Among those who did make the finish, behind the aforementioned podium, was David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang) in fourth, from Brodie Kostecki (#99 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore), Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore), Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang), Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore), Chris Pither (#22 Coca-Cola ZB Commodore), and Anton De Pasquale (#11 Shell V-Power Mustang).

In the teams’ championship, Triple Eight Race Engineering has a lead of 605 points over Dick Johnson Racing with a maximum 576 on offer at Adelaide in December.

UPDATE: De Pasquale disqualified

At the start, Davison (#17 Mustang) made a good launch from second on the grid and ran side-by-side with pole-sitter van Gisbergen (#97 ZB Commodore) to the first chicane.

Davison straight-lined the complex after a nudge from Mostert and officials would decide no further action, meaning the top three remained #17, #97, and #25, with Cameron Waters fourth in the #6 Monster Energy Mustang.

The contest was red-flagged on Lap 4 due to a huge incident at the Beach Chicane, where Golding (#31 Subway ZB Commodore) got loose and smashed into a tyre bundle while running 10th.

Several others piled into the dislodged tyres and/or each other and the track was temporarily blocked, with six entries eliminated by the incident and multiple more incurring significant damage.

Safety Car conditions resumed after almost half an hour, before a restart on Lap 9 which was taken by Brodie Kostecki in fifth, from Reynolds, Scott Pye (#20 Alspec ZB Commodore), De Pasquale, Winterbottom, and Will Brown (#9 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore).

At the very front of the field, Davison came under immediate pressure from van Gisbergen and, despite initially being defensive, he would cede first spot on Lap 11 when the champion-elect made a dive at Turn 11.

Mostert pitted from third on Lap 22 while van Gisbergen was more than five seconds up when Davison stopped on Lap 25, with Brodie Kostecki following Car #17 into the lane.

Having caught traffic, van Gisbergen pitted on Lap 28, while Reynolds and Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) went as long as Lap 32 before they brought an end to the cycle.

Mostert had jumped to a 2.5s lead over van Gisbergen after he took on a reported 34 litres versus the Triple Eight pilot’s 54, with Davison third following a 41-litre fill.

De Pasquale was fourth, from Brown, Winterbottom, Pye, Brodie Kostecki, Waters, Heimgartner in 10th, and Reynolds in 11th.

Mostert’s advantage had been cut to less than two seconds on Lap 36, and was down to 0.6s on Lap 43, by which time Waters had just passed Brodie Kostecki for eighth and then Pye for seventh at the top end of the circuit on consecutive laps.

The top two were essentially nose-to-tail as Mostert peeled off for his second stop on Lap 45 to make the balance of the 140-litre compulsory fuel drop.

Davison was in for service again on Lap 47 and resumed a position behind Mostert, while van Gisbergen retained the effective lead at a margin of more than four seconds over Car #25 when he took his second stop on Lap 51.

Once Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s ZB Commodore) pitted on Lap 57, the order was cleansed for the run home, with van Gisbergen leading from Mostert, Davison, Reynolds, Waters, Brodie Kostecki, Winterbottom, De Pasquale, Pye, and Heimgartner in 10th.

Car #97 was more than six seconds to the good when another Safety Car period was called on Lap 71 in order to recover the #55 Castrol Mustang of Thomas Randle, which Tickford Racing had patched up after it was involved in the Lap 4 carnage, stopped on-track between Turn 15 and pit entry.

DJR responded by calling De Pasquale in for fresh, although apparently used, tyres and he resumed in 13th, last of those on the lead lap, with Brown inheriting the last spot in the top 10.

Upon the Lap 75 restart, van Gisbergen grabbed a margin of 0.6s, and was a full second clear again on Lap 78.

Brodie Kostecki eventually took fifth spot off Waters when he barged past the Tickford entry at the Turn 4 hairpin on Lap 82, half a lap before a messy incident at the other end of the circuit.

Winterbottom went under Waters at Turn 15 and, just behind them, Pye was unloaded into the tyre wall on drivers’ right by Brown.

The latter would be assessed a 15-second penalty for a driving infringement while Pye already had the same sanction hanging over his head for a Safety Car restart infringement.

Brown took the chequered flag in eighth and Pye 13th but they would officially be classified bottom two of the 13 on the lead lap.

Results are, of course, not final yet, and Car #11 of De Pasquale is under investigation from stewards regarding tyre pressure.

James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) was the last classified finisher in 18th with the bare minimum 64 laps after a valiant effort from him and Tickford, which hastily threw the car back together after it too was caught in the Beach Chicane incident.

The other DNFs caused by the Lap 4 pile-up were Todd Hazelwood (#35 Truck Assist ZB Commodore), Golding, Feeney (#88 ZB Commodore), Lee Holdsworth (#10 Penrite Mustang), Nick Percat (#2 Mobil 1 NTI ZB Commodore), and Macauley Jones (#96 Pertamina ZB Commodore).

One event remains this Repco Supercars Championship season, the Valo Adelaide 500 at the Adelaide Parklands Circuit on December 1-4.

Results: Race 32, Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 Updated

Drivers’ championship Updated

Teams’ championship Updated