Shane van Gisbergen beats Scott McLaughlin to win despite penalty

Shane van Gisbergen claimed a vital victory in the first race of the weekend at Pukekohe ahead of main title rival Scott McLaughlin, despite the Holden driver being penalised in the final part of the race. To add to the drama, van Gisbergen could face a second, post-race, penalty.

DJR Team Penske driver McLauglin started from pole position and claimed the lead of the race ahead of van Gisbergen.

McLaughlin managed to pull up a small lead that was however decimated when the safety car was called out on track on the eighth lap as DJR’s Fabian Coulthard was pushed off the circuit and into the wall in a battle for 13th position between Richie Stanaway and Lee Holdsworth.

Stanaway was penalised for the incident as he was found to have gone into the back of Holdsworth who in turn hit Coulthard.

The safety car session saw Walkinshaw Andretti United driver James Courtney claiming the lead as he had pitted on the first lap of the race.

Both McLaughlin and van Gisbergen got stuck behind Courtney, with van Gisbergen managing to find his way past McLaughlin but not Courtney.

The second and final stop saw McLaughlin getting out ahead, building up a lead that was around four seconds at most.

Van Gisbergen managed to chase the Ford driver down and get past with ten laps remaining. The pass however included a tap from the Holden driver, a tap that the stewards handed van Gisbergen a five-second penalty for.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver set a furious pace after that and actually managed to win the race by 5,5 seconds, meaning that he won the race by 0,5 seconds over McLaughlin after his penalty.

But van Gisbergen could still lose his victory as he is under investigation for spinning his wheels during his final pit stop. The stewards are yet to announce a decision.

Tickford Racing driver Chaz Mostert claimed third position after being very close to van Gisbergen after their final stop.

David Reynolds claimed fourth position for Erebus Motorsport while van Gisbergen’s team-mate Jamie Whincup rounded out the top five.

Van Gisbergen’s win has put him just two points behind McLaughlin in the championship with three races remaining of the 2018 season.

The second race of the weekend starts at 16:10 local time (04:10 CET) tomorrow.