Rick Kelly claims first win for Nissan since 2016
Rick Kelly won the opening round of the weekend at Winton Motor Raceway, claiming Nissan’s first Supercars championship victory since 2016.
The Nissan Motorsport driver won the race ahead of Scott Pye and Shane van Gisbergen while championship leader Scott McLaughlin lost the lead after a safety car session.
Kelly started fourth but made his way past DJR Team Penske driver Fabian Coulthard on the opening lap.
McLaughlin headed the field from pole position and kept the lead of the race until a safety car session with ten laps left, caused by Tim Blanchard running wide and beaching his Holden Commodore in the gravel trap.
As the safety car headed in, McLaughlin lost no less than four positions after a slow exit of Turn 2 as Kelly, Pye, van Gisbergen and Coulthard made their way past.
An early victim in the race was David Reynolds, who was placed third in the standings ahead of the race, who suffered a puncture and had to pit for repairs, dropping him to finish 25th, six laps behind the leaders.
Michael Caruso finished sixth for Nissan Motorsport ahead of Brad Jones Racing driver Tim Slade in seventh and Garth Tander rounding off the top eight for Garry Rogers Motorsport.
Reigning champion Jamie Whincup had a tough race to finish 17th after reporting a roll bar issue.
