Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin shared wins in last night’s BP Supercars All Stars ESeries event at Michigan International Speedway.
QUALIFYING
The grid was decided by a standard qualifying session followed by two qualifying races that would ultimately decide the grid.
The first heat was won by Shane van Gisbergen, while the second was won by Anton de Pasquale, thus setting up the first row of the grid.
RACE 1
Van Gisbergen got the jump on de Pasquale as McLaughlin settled in behind the Red Bull driver.
A coming-together between Todd Hazelwood and Jake Kostecki at the end of lap one saw multiple cars thrown out of contention.
As the race settled down, McLaughlin maintained a lead over de Pasquale with van Gisbergen and Macauley Jones as the watching brief.
However, the two would tangle on lap five, sending both drivers tumbling down the pack.
The race would proceed without much incident before the pitstop shuffle on lap 20, with the majority of drivers opting to enter the lane.
McLaughlin assumed the lead once all pitstops had been completed with de Pasquale and van Gisbergen bearing down on him.
With two laps to go, doubts lingered over whether McLaughlin had sufficient fuel to finish the race.
A shuffle between the leaders saw van Gisbergen leading on the run to the flag. McLaughlin’s challenge was thwarted as he ran out of fuel meters before the finish line.
RACE 2
Kelly led a mostly-clean first couple of laps before the first of the incidents took out a number of contenders at the end of lap two.
Kelly slipped through the pack before tangling with wildcard team-mate, Christian Lundgaard.
Whincup assumed the lead of the race from Reynolds and Caruso, through the Tickford wildcard would be sent down through the pack after tangling with team-mate Waters.
Several drivers tangled at the beginning of lap nine which saw McLaughlin lose touch with the leading pack.
After the deployment of the safety car on lap 12, all drivers opted to complete their pitstops, leaving Whincup in command of the race.
Whincup led away at the restart although Heimgartner quickly found his way past.
De Pasquale meanwhile was sent down the pack after contact on the back stretch with Coulthard. Whincup’s challenge for the lead came to an end after wrecking on lap 17.
Following this however, it was a relatively clean battle for the lead, although controversy would soon arise.
Whincup, who at this stage was a lap down and out of contention, had immersed himself in the leading battle pack, which was causing headaches for all involved.
Van Gisbergen would emerge the victory with Fullwood second and McLaughlin rounding out the podium.
RACE 3
Reynolds was spun out of contention early after contact on the back stretch on lap two.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United pairing of Fullwood and Mostert began to pester van Gisbergen with the three exchanging positions constantly.
Van Gisbergen was the first of the leaders to pit on lap 15 in what was a very early pitstop compared to many others. Others opted to pit from laps 27 to 28.
McLaughlin maintained a comfortable margin over the rest of the pack while it became clear that van Gisbergen had adopted a two-stop strategy, putting him well out of contention.
As McLaughlin was held up behind Fullwood, de Pasquale and Mostert began to edge closer to the DJRTP driver.
De Pasquale’s contention for the lead came to an end after contact with Mostert on the back stretch with three laps remaining.
This resulted in a drive-through penalty for the Walkinshaw driver, leaving McLaughlin with a clear run to the flag. The podium was completed by Jack Le Brocq and Jordan Boys.
Van Gisbergen maintains the lead in the standings as the championship returns to Australia next week for the finale, visiting Oran Park and Mount Panorama.
