Van Gisbergen/Webb take opening GC600 win

Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb broke a season-long victory drought for Tekno Autosports in dominant fashion at the Castrol Gold Coast 600.

Webb started the #97 Holden from pole position and built a 10 second lead by the time the minimum 34 co-driver laps were completed.

Van Gisbergen was then untroubled through his two stints to the flag, controlling a late Safety Car restart on the way to victory.

David Reynolds was just 1.6s adrift at the flag in second but had spent the closing laps focussed on fending off Craig Lowndes.

The Red Bull driver’s title hopes enjoyed a major boost on a horror day for Mark Winterbottom and Prodrive.

Winterbottom was released from his first pitstop into the path of Garth Tander, with subsequent contact causing damage to the Ford’s right-front corner that took more than 10 laps to repair.

Tander and team-mate James Courtney had a spirited battle on the way to fourth and fifth respectively, swapping paint on multiple occasions.

The result was enough to propel Tander and co-driver Warren Luff into the lead of the Pirtek Enduro Cup ahead of Sunday’s finale.

Nick Percat, Fabian Coulthard, Scott Pye, Rick Kelly and James Moffat drove their respective entries to sixth through 10^th at the flag.

Moffat’s chances were dealt a major blow early when co-driver Taz Douglas was spun to the back of the field following contact with the Paul Dumbrell-driven #1 Red Bull Holden.

Subsequent contact later in the lap between Dumbrell and Dean Canto then sent the Commodore to the garage for repairs, continuing a horror season for Whincup.

The Kelly and Moffat Nissans were among a handful of cars to run the soft tyres in stints two and three, rather than just saving them for the run home.

The strategy ensured Kelly ran as high as third ahead of the final stops, but left him vulnerable to those behind in the back half of the race.

Otherwise, the race was surprisingly straight forward, with all cars starting on hards with their co-drivers aboard.

Scott McLaughlin’s tough year continued as co-driver Alex Premat damaged the pair’s Volvo across the beachside chicane while chasing Webb in the first stint.

The #33 S60 required a new front spoiler at its first pitstop before later requiring a lengthy stop to fix a steering problem.

The race ran green until debris on the circuit saw the single Safety Car intervention on lap 85 of 102.

At the restart, Tim Slade was spun out of eighth by Will Davison in an incident that saw Lee Holdsworth’s entry take heavy front-end damage.

A second 300km race will complete the Castrol Gold Coast 600 tomorrow.

Result: V8 Supercars Race 26, Surfers Paradise  

Championship Standings 

Pirtek Enduro Cup Standings