Shane van Gisbergen bounces back from exclusion to win second Newcastle race

Shane van Gisbergen bounced back from his Race 1 exclusion to win the second race of the Supercars Championship season opener on the streets of Newcastle, Australia.

The Triple Eight driver fought hard with Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Chaz Mostert over the lead, with the duo making contact at least twice.

The start of the race saw the safety car and later red flags being brought out following an incident between Declan Fraser and Macauley Jones which caused barrier damage.

Mostert got the jump on pole sitter David Reynolds to take the lead at the start and came under pressure from Cameron Waters towards mid-point of the race.

But the Tickford Racing driver made a mistake, clipping the wall at Turn 9 while chasing Mostert and dropped down the order due to a broken steering arm to finish 12th.

Van Gisbergen meanwhile emerged from his final pit stop 19 laps from the end and started to close in on Mostert.

The Camaro driver nudged Mostert at Turn 9 and was able to get past for the lead. Mostert tried to get back a couple of corners later, making contact, but had to settle for second.

Van Gisbergen was able to pull clear of Mostert after the pass and won the race by more than four seconds.

Pole sitter Reynolds finished third for Grove Racing, a massive 25 seconds behind reigning champion van Gisbergen.

James Golding came home in fourth for PremiAir Racing, only just ahead of Triple Eight driver Broc Feeney who rounded off the top five.

The next Supercars Championship race will take place at Albert Park on April 2nd.