Supercars – Van Gisbergen wins, Coulthard on the roof in Auckland

In front of his home crowd, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen (Holden) emerged victorious in the first race of the Auckland meeting. The Triple Eight driver takes the lead in the general classification after an accident between two title challengers.

The event was marked by the roll of Fabian Coulthard (Ford) in the final laps. The former leader of the Drivers' Championship stuck with Bathurst 1000 winner David Reynolds (Holden), before reversing into the gravel trap. However, the stewards decided to impose a pit stop penalty on Chaz Mostert (Ford); the latter was found guilty of a stroller on David Reynolds a few meters before the accident.

SAFETY CAR

A huge accident between @daffidreynolds and @fabiancoulthard.

Fabian is out of Car 12 and OK. #VASC pic.twitter.com/3u4J63ZPnM

— Supercars (@supercars) November 4, 2017

Like in Gold Coast two weeks ago, it was during the wave of tire changes that the identity of the winner emerged. Shane van Gisbergen and Mark Winterbottom (Ford) took advantage of a late intervention by the safety car to stop a lap later than the leading duo Scott McLaughlin (Ford) and Jamie Whincup (Holden). “We had a bit of luck with the safety car”, recognized Shane van Gisbergen. “I then had to save fuel, so I slowed down while defending my position, in order to overheat the tires of the pursuers. »

The hierarchy in the general classification is turned upside down. Jamie Whincup takes the lead again with an 18-point lead over Scott McLaughlin, while Fabian Coulthard (3rd) now has 137 points, himself closely followed by Shane van Gisbergen (22 points difference). Chaz Mostert is relegated to 210 points from the leader.