Shane van Gisbergen took three victories from three races in this week’s BP Supercars All Stars ESeries round.
The event featured a frantic oval race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as well as two more on the Daytona International Speedway road course.
The dominant evening, coupled with a difficult one for McLaughlin, hands the championship lead to Van Gisbergen.
QUALIFYING
Qualifying for the Charlotte race was tumultuous with De Pasquale taking the pole from McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris.
Surprise performances included that of Jamie Whincup, who qualified well inside the top ten for the first time this season.
For Daytona, Mostert set the benchmark early in the session with McLaughlin close behind.
Times varied greatly early on as drivers still attempted to acclimatise to the irregular roval configuration.
Van Gisbergen utilised the draft to climb up the leaderboard to provisional pole position with 12 minutes remaining in the session.
De Pasquale climbed up the order as drivers attempted to find a ‘drafting buddy’ for their respective laps.
Scott Pye improved to P5 ahead of Norris.
CSR teammate Mark Winterbottom caused a bottleneck in between multiple cars late into the session, ruining the chances for those drivers.
Van Gisbergen would remain on top for the remainder of the session, taking pole for the race at Daytona
RACE 1 (Charlotte)
De Pasquale led off the start, though questions arose whether he had jumped the start.
McLaughlin encountered early troubles, pitting early thereby putting him a lap down.
Norris eventually wrestled the lead away from De Pasquale as the extraordinary battle pack for the lead extended back to 11th.
He and Van Gisbergen began to exchange positions over the next few laps.
Le Brocq and Waters were the first of the leaders to pit, while Mostert grabbed the lead from Van Gisbergen.
Norris spun on lap 18, putting him out of contention for the race.
As the remainder of the pack finished their stops, it was Waters and Le Brocq who emerged as the leaders, with Whincup in hot pursuit.
With ten laps remaining, the safety car was brough out, but not before Whincup attained the lead from the Tickford pair.
Upon resumption from the safety car, Whincup led the pack away. Whincup and Le Brocq tangled with five laps remaining, leaving Van Gisbergen in the lead.
Fullwood attempted to pass on the outside with one lap remaining. De Pasquale spun at T1, putting him out of contention.
The battle for the lead intensified as drivers leaned on each other on the run to the line.
Van Gisbergen just beat Waters to the line with Coulthard finishing in third in a frantic end to the race.
RACE 2 (Daytona)
Van Gisbergen led away from the line while Mostert began to apply the blowtorch to De Pasquale.
McLaughlin’s day went from bad to worse after being spun by Pye at T1 on the second lap.
Holdsworth also encountered troubles as the squabble over second place began to intensify.
De Pasquale pitted on lap four while Van Gisbergen opted for a longer strategy. This paid dividends for the Erebus driver, who took the effective lead of the race after a rapid outlap.
Van Gisbergen grabbed the lead with three laps remaining while McLaughlin began to trudge forward through the pack.
Despite a final push from De Pasquale, Van Gisbergen held on for the victory while Mostert rounded out the podium.
RACE 3 (Daytona)
Confusion at the start after De Pasquale failed to make the start of the race, leaving Van Gisbergen alone on the front row.
McLaughlin and Le Brocq collided on the approach to T1 with the Kiwi barely holding on to the Mustang. Le Brocq was issued a drive-through-penalty due to the incident.
McLaughlin opted to pit early while De Pasquale began to charge through the pack after starting from the pitlane.
Reynolds jumped Mostert and Jacobson in the pitstop shuffle, settling into second behind Van Gisbergen.
The battle for second was hotting up as McLaughlin fell into the clutches of Le Brocq as tyre wear became a real issue.
McLaughlin was the first of the leaders to make their second compulsory pitstop. A flurry of drivers made theirs on the succeeding lap.
Jacobson meanwhile had acquired second place on what was a strong evening for the Matt Stone Racing driver.
With two laps remaining however, Mostert had caught Jacobson with McLaughlin as the watching brief.
In a shock move, Jacobson gave up second place at the beginning of the last lap, handing it to the WAU driver.
His intentions soon became clear, as it was known the draft would play a big role in the run to the flag. And by this stage, De Pasquale had caught onto the back of the pack.
However, the order would remain the same, with the podium consisting of Van Gisbergen, Mostert, and Jacobson.
The dominant evening, coupled with a difficult one for McLaughlin, hands the championship lead to Van Gisbergen.
The next event will head to two grand prix venues – the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola) and the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos).
