Saturday sweep for Shane van Gisbergen who converts pole to win

Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Shane van Gisbergen has put behind his demons of losing the Sandown 500 by winning the opening Newcastle 500 race in controlling fashion this afternoon.

Starting from pole position, van Gisbergen dominated the day, dictating the pace throughout the race and being put on a strong strategy which complemented his car speed, allowing him to take a well-earned victory.

The dominant display headed what could have been a one-two for the team until a late race mistake dropped team-mate Jamie Whincup down the order, the pair losing points in the teams championship battle because of it.

Running off the front row side-by-side as the lights went out, van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin went with each other into Turn 1 with nothing separating the Triple Eight and DJR Team Penske cars.

Though McLaughlin had a nose in front, he was on the outside and had to yield, leaving himself vulnerable to Whincup who got by to make it a Triple Eight one-two on the opening lap.

A clean first lap turned into a messy second lap for Jack Le Brocq who was turned around at Turn 7 by the Garry Rogers Motorsport #4 of James Golding, backing the Tekno car into the tyre wall and causing damage to the rear bumper and roof.

Van Gisbergen wasn’t able to run away early in the first stint, Whincup staying in touch behind with McLaughlin in tow. Close behind the champion elect, Cam Waters in the Tickford Racing #6 was able to get away from the Erebus pair of Anton de Pasquale and David Reynolds.

McLaughlin was the first of the lead pack to pit on lap eight, coming in for his first lot of fuel and to come out of sequence from the battle at the front. The next person to come in was Reynolds some four laps later, showing the difference in strategy between the lead drivers.

Coming in from second on the road, Whincup took his first stop of the day on lap 17, nine laps after McLaughlin’s and coming out of the lane between McLaughlin and Reynolds, all on different fuel strategies.

With a fuel advantage in the long run and superior car pace, Whincup kept closing the gap to McLaughlin, needing less than four in hand to jump the #17 car in the next round of pit stops.

While McLaughlin had his mirrors full of Whincup, Reynolds was struggling to keep the Walkinshaw Andretti United car of James Courtney at bay, both in front of Waters who had taken his first stop but been jumped in the process.

Finally coming in for his first pit stop on lap 33, van Gisbergen relinquished the lead on lap 33, being passed by McLaughlin and Whincup on track but with a significant fuel advantage heading towards the final stops.

A power steering issue for de Pasquale put the #99 car out of the race on lap 34, the Erebus team having no option other than to fix the problem and not let their young star race without power steering at one of the hardest tracks on the calendar.

Handing the lead over to his team-mate on lap 37, Coulthard hit the pits while McLaughlin took off in the lead, albeit pursued by the Triple Eight cars close behind, headed by Whincup with van Gisbergen in tow.

Being allowed to get past his team-mate to challenge for the lead, van Gisbergen was waved past Whincup on lap 43, being bale to get in touch of McLaughlin who sat less than a second in front and on older tyres.

Releasing the Triple Eight cars, McLaughlin’s second and final stop came at the start of lap 51, having to take on a big load of fuel but returning to the circuit in relatively clear air.

Whincup was the next to stop on the next tour, expectedly coming back on track in front of McLaughlin after a shorter stop for fuel. Meanwhile Coulthard was battling with Reynolds, coming out of his pit stop with a small gap over the Erebus car who was keeping Waters at bay.

Thanks to the long first stint, van Gisbergen didn’t have to come in for his shorter second stop until lap 65, emerging on the circuit well clear of Whincup, spearheading a Triple Eight one-two as the DJR Team Penske cars ran line astern behind them, keeping the team’s championship alive.

What seemed like it would be an easy run for Whincup to second became a disaster when he locked up into Turn 1, having to run down the escape road and failing to execute a clean spin, costing him time and ending up in seventh behind Courtney.

The issue promoted McLaughlin up to second and put Coulthard onto the podium in third, provisionally increasing DJR Team Penske’s team’s championship margin heading into the final race of the year.

With Whincup fighting Courtney for seventh, he came under fire from the other WAU car of Scott Pye who got by in the run between Turn 7 and 8. Pye started in last after a crash in qualifying, having spent the night in hospital thanks to gastro picked up the day before.

Pye pulled the same move on team-mate Courtney soon after, chasing after Waters for a top five result while the Tickford car was well down on Reynolds in fourth. Courtney had to fight to keep Whincup behind him, almost ending in tears thanks to a little bump from behind heading into Turn 1.

Back out in front after leading a majority of the race, van Gisbergen cruised home to finish over ten seconds ahead of McLaughlin in second, a worthy result for the Triple Eight driver after losing the Sandown 500 late in the day.

Coulthard finished in third to make it a nearly perfect result for DJR Team Penske, allowing them to extend their advantage in the championship thanks to Whincup’s mistake. Reynolds was able to keep Waters at bay who ended the day just ahead of the hard-charging Pye in sixth from 24th on the grid.

Courtney held the fastest lap of the race and was rewarded with seventh after holding off Whincup, finishing eighth which easily could’ve been second without his mistake. The Brad Jones Racing car of Tim Slade and Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom rounded out the top ten, a strong result for Winterbottom in the 2015 champion’s 500th race.

Tomorrow’s first qualifying session begins at 11:20 local time with the Top Ten Shootout beginning at 13:20. Season 2019 will come to a close after the 95 lap race begins at 16:15.