Supercars-Clipsal 500: van Gisbergen imperial in Adelaide

Shane van gisbergen couldn't have dreamed of a better start to the Supercars season. After winning easily yesterday during the first round of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, Australia, the driver of the No. 97 Holden Commodore of the Red Bull Holden Racing Team Australia scored a double this Sunday after taking the lead over the DJR Team Penske Ford Falcons of Fabian Coulthard and then Scott McLaughlin.

The two residents of Roger Penske's co-owned team had, however, gotten the best start against pole-sitter van Gisbergen, with Coulthard leading the race ahead of McLaughlin in the first laps. The latter immediately attempted a gamble by stopping very quickly on the eighth lap of this second 250 km round.

Coulthard finally gave way to van Gisbergen on lap 14, the New Zealander maintaining the advantage until his pit stop on lap 17. Starting fifth again, the outgoing champion was around ten seconds behind McLaughlin, the new leader and benefiting from a free track.

But little by little, the Blancpain GT Series champion Endurance Cup 2016 will reduce the gap, notably by stopping one lap later than its rival on the 42nd lap. It was not until the 75th lap that van Gisbergen took advantage of a small error from McLaughlin when braking on the straight line of the track to take control of the race and head towards a second success on this inaugural weekend.

One mistake, @shanevg97 pounces.

Car 97 moves into the lead ahead of @smclaughlin93 with three laps to go. #VASC pic.twitter.com/r7IEaN2rtf

— Supercars (@supercars) March 5, 2017

Scott McLaughlin will not begin his collaboration with DJR Team Penske with a victory in his first outing, and finishes in second place ahead of Chaz Mostert (PRA – Ford Falcon).

James Courtney (Walkinshaw Racing – Holden) finished 4th ahead of Fabian Coulthard, Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Holden Racing Team Australia – Holden), who had missed his qualifications during the Shoot-Out, Cameron Waters (PRA – Ford), Tim Slade ( Brad Jones Racing – Holden), Todd Kelly (Nissan Motorsport – Nissan Altima) and Craig Lowndes (Red Bull Holden Racing Team Australia – Holden).

Simona de Silvestro (Nissan Motorsport – Nissan) took 23rd place after being the victim of contact with James Courtney.

Ranking Race 2 Clipsal 500

Find the report of the Clipsal 500, in issue 2104 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.

Pierre Tassel