Shane van Gisbergen has convincingly won race two of the Gold Coast 500 this evening, holding off Chaz Mostert after a late Safety Car eliminated the gap up front.
Will Davison filled out the top three ahead of a charging David Reynolds, whilst Brodie Kostecki rounded out the top five.
With the 2022 Supercars championship now locked away for another year, the Kiwi still looks to build on his domination. The win makes it 21 for the year for van Gisbergen, extending his record of this being the most successful Supercars season ever. With two more races yet to run in Adelaide, few would not back this to grow.
The victory also secured the teams championship for Red Bull Ampol Racing.
There were three full-time Kiwis in the top 10 for the first time this season , Andre Heimgartner finishing in ninth, one spot ahead of Chris Pither in his penultimate Supercars round.
The race was marred by a massive crash on Lap 4, James Golding, who was just inside the top 10, running through the final chicane on the Beach Straight and hitting the tyre bundle on its inside. His car was launched into a spin at speed, whilst the tyre bundle shot right and into Thomas Randle who had been behind.
Randle was squeezed wide into the wall at corner exit to avoid impact with Golding, whilst the field behind compressed because of the blocked track, a number of cars making contact at speed with the stopped cars ahead.
James Courtney and Broc Feeney were among the first on the scene to make hard contact, whilst Lee Holdsworth, Todd Hazlewood, Nick Percat and Macauley Jones also suffered major damage.
To compound matters, two fires broke out from the incident, Jones the worst affected with large flames visible at the front of the BJR Commodore. Holdsworth’s Mustang also briefly caught fire, however this extinguished itself.
With the track blocked, a number of cars also suffered cosmetic damage in nose-to-tail impacts, including New Zealander Andre Heimgartner.
A red flag was required to clean the track, a delay of over 30 minutes required before proceedings could resume.
Teams used the delay as an opportunity for repairs, it appearing that only seven cars escaped any damage.
Once the race went green, again, eight cars were unable to return to the track, including Courtney, Jones, Holdsworth, Golding, Percat, Feeney, Hazlewood and Randle.
Courtney re-emerged to the track on Lap 22, some 15 laps down, as did Randle two laps later.
The race belonged to van Gisbergen, however, who led by five seconds after the final rounds of stops.
A late Safety Car because of a stranded Randle did eliminate this gap, however a quick restart saw the Kiwi pull away once again to take the flag.
In true SVG fashion, he celebrated the victory with one of his biggest burnouts to date, his right rear becoming yet another casualty of the Gold Coast track.
Race Report
The top 10 all started well with van Gisbergen drifting to the right to cover off Davison as the field entered the first chicane. A nudge from Mostert in third sent Davison through the chicane and saw him take the lead at the corner exit.
Mostert followed the Shell V Power Mustang through the chicane, van Gisbergen slotting between the two to sit second.
Davison was allowed to keep the position as he had nowhere else to go, and had his nose in front on the outside on the entry into the left-hander.
After just four laps a massive crash was triggered by James Golding launching over the sausage kerb on the back straight chicane and spinning across the track, bouncing off the wall.
Running in the top 10 at that point, the majority of the field were still coming through. The result saw the field exit the chicane at speed and into the stricken Golding.
It was a narrow escape for Thomas Randle behind, who was clipped by the tyres from the inside of the chicane, after Golding hit them, before running into the wall at corner exit. The damage was, however, race ending.
The rest of the field were not so lucky, Broc Feeney and James Courtney among the first to make contact at speed. The track became blocked, the field behind becoming stranded with drivers approaching at speed.
Macauley Jones was another driver to suffer a heavy impact, a large fire also breaking out at the front of his car. The drivers involved all scrambled to assist put the flames out on the BJR car, however damage appears severe.
A red flag was immediately called for, it becoming apparent the severity of the damage when nearly every car from eighth and below with damage.
Among the drivers forced from contention were Golding, Jones, Feeney, Courtney, Todd Hazlewood, Lee Holdsworth and Nick Percat.
Running at the rear of the field, Andre Heimgartner didn’t escape unscathed, making light contact with the scrum of cars before reversing out and resuming.
Chris Pither was one of the lucky few and able to squeeze through.
A lengthly delay of over half an hour followed, teams using the red flag as an opportunity for repairs, several cars left sporting a livery of tape for the remainder of the race.
Proceedings finally resumed on Lap 9 under a Safety Car, Davison immediately put under pressure from van Gisbergen for the next few laps.
The two ran bumper-to-bumber for several laps, bump drafting the order of the day by the Kiwi. He finally managed a way through on Lap 11 to retake the lead of the race.
As the field began to stop, Courtney retook to the track wearing the scars of the earlier crash. The team at Tickford worked wonders on his car to prepare it for return as they seek points in the teams classification from a finish.
Randle also managed to return to proceedings not long after.
Up front, van Gisbergen built on his lead to extend it to 5 seconds by Lap 25. Davison still ran second and Mostert was the first of the front three to make his first stop.
Davison followed two laps later, with van Gisbergen covering on Lap 28. Mostert took the net lead of the race following the first round of stops, however had taken on less fuel than the two previous leaders.
Van Gisbergen then went about hunting down Mostert on track, the two running nose-to-tail on Lap 45 when Mostert came in for his second stop. The Kiwi remained on track to retake the lead of the race.
Davison then took his second stop on Lap 47, returning to the track still behind of Mostert.
Van Gisbergen followed suit after several push laps, stopping for the final time on Lap 51. Emerging from the lane in third, he trailed only Reynolds and Tim Slade who were both yet to stop.
Once the final round of stops had been done, Van Gisbergen had returned to the lead, four seconds the buffer back to Mostert in second. Davison ran in third, with Reynolds and Waters rounding out the top five.
Heimgartner had also quietly moved up into the top 10 by this point, while Pither was sitting 12th.
With 14 laps remaining, the equation changed and the gaps were eliminated for a stricken Randle on track. His engine failed to fire, seeing him need a tow to the pits.
The Tickford garages were kept busy at the same point, Courtney also shown a black flag with the bonnet on his car having lifted to a level deemed unsafe.
With three laps to go, Kostecki muscled his way past Waters to take fifth. Winterbottom tried to follow through several corners later, with Pye right on his tail trying to follow. Will Brown, on the outside of Pye, blocked him in at the corner apex, Pye forced straight ahead at low speed to end up facing the barriers.
Brown was awarded a 15 second time penalty for causing the crash, whilst Pye already had the same penalty for a Safety Car infringement earlier on.
Van Gisbergen held on to take the win ahead of Mostert, while Davison kept a fast finishing Reynolds at bay for third.
A result of the penalties ahead saw Heimgartner finish ninth, after starting 20th, and Pither finish 10th, his first top 10 of 2022.
