Van Gisbergen dominates maiden Gen3 Supercars race

TRIPLE Eight has greeted the Gen3 era with a commanding one-two in the opening race of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship at the Newcastle 500.

While the early lead was a battle between Brodie Kostecki and Cam Waters, the ascendancy gradually shifted to the Red Bull Ampol Camaros as three-time champion Shane van Gisbergen proved he’s still the driver to beat.

Van Gisbergen was fourth until passing teammate Broc Feeney on Lap 13 and used seemingly superior race pace and tyre degradation to overtake the lead pair during the first round of pitstops.

All told, van Gisbergen took the chequered flag 14.7408s clear of Feeney – the biggest ever winning margin at Newcastle – with Waters completing the Race 1 podium.

“I have to thank the team, one-two in our first race out, Red Bull Ampol Racing, what a pleasure,” van Gisbergen said.

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“I haven’t ever been comfortable in this car and the team has done everything they can to make it better for me.

“I feel like a wobbler driving the thing, but the team has given us two great cars.

“Tomorrow is going to be tough; we have to come back and do it again.”

Waters added: “I just wanted to get through that race and keep it clean. We were pretty competitive but a little bit off those guys.

“The staircase (Turns 7-9), I couldn’t really match them, our car is just not really responsive like theirs is.

“We’ll take it, the car is in one piece. I can’t thank the guys and girls at Tickford Racing enough for giving me such a good car.”

It was a relatively uneventful affair, filled with close racing but not a heap of overtaking or incidents. The race ran without a single Safety Car intervention.

The maiden encounter of the Gen3 era did start in style, with all 25 drivers navigating the opening lap safely, led by polesitter Kostecki who staved off Waters into the first corner.

Dick Johnson Racing’s difficult Saturday became even worse, with Anton De Pasquale pointing in the wrong direction on the second run through Turn 8.

That was a result of contact with Todd Hazelwood, who was later cleared of any punishment.

De Pasquale had already made Turn 2 contact with Bryce Fullwood, causing right-rear damage to the Middy’s Camaro, which in turn bumped Mark Winterbottom.

Turn 8 became a hotspot for close moments, with light contact there between van Gisbergen/Waters and Will Davison/James Courtney.

Van Gisbergen had by then passed Feeney at the same place, while Winterbottom later pulled a move on Thomas Randle.

There was minimal passing early but that became more prominent through the middle section of the race as strategies diverged, with the Turn 11/12 complex an increasingly popular spot.

First to fall victim to the ongoing wheel nut saga was PremiAir Racing’s milestone man Tim Slade.

Slade had been enjoying a fine 400th Supercars Championship race, holding net fifth until his front-right tyre became stuck during a Lap 30 pitstop.

It wasn’t until he had dropped two laps that Slade returned to the track, well out of contention – and another visit to the lane would be mandated when he was shown the mechanical black flag for flapping bodywork at the front-left.

While his teammate Chaz Mostert was recovering strongly from a slow start, Nick Percat became the first to retire from the race with a brake issue.

In the battle for the lead, van Gisbergen and engineer Andrew Edwards played their usual strategy of running deep into the race to tremendous success.

Van Gisbergen had been stuck behind Waters throughout the entire first stint, the Tickford star making his #6 Mustang as wide as possible.

Van Gisbergen though managed to overcut Waters, which propelled him into the lead after Erebus appeared to make a strategic error by letting Kostecki slip behind both Waters and Feeney.

As van Gisbergen stretched his legs out in front, Triple Eight grabbed hold of a one-two by calling Feeney in for his second stop on Lap 56, allowing him to undercut Waters who stopped the next time around.

Kostecki drifted further off the podium, with Mostert all over him in the battle for fourth entering the final 20 laps.

After some valiant defence, Kostecki eventually lost out at Turn 2 on Lap 80, and soon was falling away from the charging #25 Walkinshaw Andretti United Mustang.

Kostecki brought his #99 home in fifth, just ahead of teammate Will Brown, while Andre Heimgartner, Mark Winterbottom, Scott Pye and James Courtney finished seventh through 10th.

David Reynolds wound up 12th after suffering a wheel nut issue of his own, ahead of Davison who was the lead DJR driver in just 13th.

Matt Payne was best of the rookies in 14th after running an undercut strategy all day.

Thomas Randle meanwhile was relegated to 19th courtesy of a time penalty for a pitlane infringement where he made contact with both Pye and Jack Le Brocq.

Sunday action involves another qualifying, Top 10 Shootout and 95-lap race.

RESULTS: Race 1, Thrifty Newcastle 500