SUPERCARS RACE 20 COATES HIRE IPSWICH SUPERSPRINT REVIEW

Shane van Gisbergen claimed victory in race 20 of the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship with a new starting technique that literally propelled the #97 Red Bull Holden off the line throughout the weekend. The lightning start placed van Gisbergen in the ideal position to control the race from the start, which he duly did. Only a different approach to the two compulsory pitstops saw van Gisbergen surrender the lead. In the end he ran out a comfortable winner from championship leader Scott McLaughln, with Chaz Mostert on the podium for his first visit in 2018.

Scott McLaughlin shaded Red Bull Holden rival Shane van Gisbergen by the narrowest of margins in the qualifying session for race 20 in the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. His time of 108.4899 was just 48 hundredths of a second faster than van Gisbergen. Chaz Mostert continued to raise hoped for the Tickford faithful with the 3rd fastest time, while the weekend continued to be a struggle for teammates Cameron Waters and Mark Winterbottom, who qualified back in 15th and 16th respectively. Fabian Coulthard, David Reynolds. Rick Kelly, Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes, Michael Caruso and Richie Stanaway rounded out the top 10.

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Tim Edwards later explained that the team had taken different approaches to the weekend as they sought to close the gap to the front running teams and were using race weekends to chase development gains.

“Cam and Frosty had some different things on their cars,” Edwards told Supercars.com following the Sunday race. “We’ve talked about it before; we’re testing in public. There’s been differences across the cars for the last few rounds. Clearly the #55 and #56 cars have got some good direction going and I wouldn’t be surprised if the others now start to follow suit.”

Shane van Gisbergen simply rocketed off the line at the start of the race and held a twenty metre lead by the time the field eased off for turn 1. Chaz Mostert held out Fabian Coulthard for third as Jamie Wincup and Criag Lowndes ran side by side through the first corner. The Tickford pair of Cameron Waters and Mark Winterbottom made contact at turn 3 as Waters used the outside line in order to gain the advantage at turn 4. Walkinshaw Andretti United drivers James Courtney and Scott Pye were also engaged in a battle for position in the mid pack as the cars filed out of turn 3. Courtney appeared to make a slow exit as he looked to hold out Tim Slade. Scott Pye made a late move up the inside as the drivers braked for the fourth corner with Courtney squeezed for room. The pair made contact which pushed Courtney into the rear of Mark Winterbottom, which spun the Bottle-O Ford to the rear of the pack.

Courtney limped back to the pits with steering and suspension damage that eventually led to his retirement. It also sparked a disagreement between the pair, with Courtney labelling the move as ‘silly’, while Pye was adamant that the move was on. Pye noted that he didn’t lock a wheel or run wide through the corner, though we was at a loss to explain what caused Courtney’s contact with Winterbottom.

Simona De Silvestro was also on the receiving end of some rough treatment throughout the race which led to post race penalties for Lee Holdsworth and Cameron Waters.

“I got hit by everybody at the start,” DeSilvestro reflected after the race. “I was run off the road a couple of times and that saw us lose a whole bunch of places. We didn’t have the greatest start, but it was really frustrating to be hit left and right.

Kurt Kostecki was another to earn the wrath of race control after an attempted pass on Tim Blanchard at turn 6 left the Brad Jones Racing Commodore on the edge of the gravel trap.

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Shane van Gisbergen controlled the first half of the race and extended his lead when Scott McLaughlin took an early pitstop with a possible undercut in mind. The #17 Shell V-Power Ford did take the lead when van Gisbergen stopped some time later and took a larger fuel load for his middle stint. He returned to the track in 8th place but was back in front when the second pit stop cycle began to play out. Van Gisbergen was amongst the last to take his final stop and resumed with a healthy lead over McLaughlin with Chaz Mostert 3rd.

As the laps counted down McLaughlin moved closer to the lead, however he was no able to mount a serious challenge to the Red Bull car. Chaz Mostert also came under fire from Jamie Whincup as he fought desperately to claim his first podium of the year. Mostert hung on to 3rd by just under a tenth of a second as the chequered flag came out.

Jamie Whincup finished 4th, from Fabian Coulthard, Tim Slade, David Reynolds, Craig Lowndes, Rick Kelly and Jack Le Brocq. Lowndes had been running in the top five only to slip back late in the race as his rear tyres fell away.

McLaughlin and van Gisbergen shared the spoils across the weekend and mirrored each other’s results, though McLaughlin later sated that his team had work to do with their race starts.

“I actually got a reasonable start, he just took off and it was awesome, it was awesome to see,” McLaughlin said of van Gisbergen’s start. “Obviously they’ve made a jump in that area with a few things they’ve put on the car. We need to think about what we need to do and improve, because he was in a class above everyone this weekend in that area, especially in that initial part.”

For Shane van Gisbergen the weekend was a step in the right direction for the Red Bull Holden Team as they attempt to reduce the points deficit to championship leader, Scott McLaughlin.

“I talked it up [on Saturday] so put a bit more pressure on, but you just know when the light goes out whether you’re on for a good one or not,” van Gisbergen said.“I didn’t look in the mirror, just looked to the right, saw Scotty wasn’t there and took the racing line. We needed to get the start and then it was hard to stay out. I could see them on the other side of the track gapping us on lap time, which was a little bit frustrating. But you had to be patient and hope for no Safety Car in the middle.”

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