Van Gisbergen wins crash-marred Gold Coast finale

SHANE van Gisbergen romped to victory in a Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 finale that featured an early red flag stoppage and a late Safety Car.

Van Gisbergen controlled the late restart to lead home Chaz Mostert and Will Davison, who both had turns in the lead during the first two stints of the 250km race.

The result sealed the teams’ championship for Red Bull Ampol Racing, a day after van Gisbergen put the drivers’ title beyond doubt.

The red flags flew on lap four when James Golding lost control of his Commodore through the beachside chicane, clobbering the tyre bundle at the final apex.

That spun Golding in the middle of the field and left those behind with nowhere to go but into the accident.

Among those involved were Macauley Jones, Nick Percat, Lee Holdsworth, Broc Feeney Todd Hazelwood, Thomas Randle and James Courtney.

The crash triggered a red flag period that lasted around half an hour and resulted in an extension of the time certain finish cut-off, but no changes to the 140-litre fuel drop requirement.

Prior to the accident, van Gisbergen and Davison had arrived at the first chicane on lap one side-by-side – the Ford cutting the chicane and emerging ahead.

An investigation left Davison in the clear, the fact he’d been alongside at the turn-in point and copped a bump from Mostert behind appearing to help his case.

“I was pretty angry at the start, how they let (Davison) cut the chicane,” said van Gisbergen post-race. “I was pretty fired up and sent it all race.”

Davison continued to lead when the red flags flew but came under heavy pressure from van Gisbergen once the race restarted on lap nine.

It took just over two laps for van Gisbergen to find a way by, plunging down the inside of the Shell Mustang at Turn 11.

Van Gisbergen eased away to a 5.5s lead by the time Davison pitted on lap 25, three laps before the Red Bull Holden also took its first fuel stop.

Both were jumped in the first pit stop cycle by Mostert, who had run third until pitting on lap 22 for a short first fuel stop in order to gain track position.

Waters had run fourth early in the race but went in the opposite direction on strategy – pitting on lap 29 and dropping to ninth with a long stop.

The Tickford Mustang lost significant time in the middle stint as he had to contend with a bunch of early stoppers including Brodie Kostecki and Mark Winterbottom.

Van Gisbergen meanwhile cruised up to the back of Mostert, while Davison and De Pasquale (also among those to stop early) held down third and fourth.

Mostert had van Gisbergen right on his tail when the Walkinshaw Holden pulled in for its second stop on lap 45, followed shortly by more stops for De Pasquale, Davison and Waters.

Van Gisbergen waited until lap 51 to make his second stop and rejoined 5s clear of Mostert, who had almost two seconds on Davison, with David Reynolds further back in fourth.

Those margins expanded slightly as the stint unfolded, van Gisbergen’s lead over six seconds when the Safety Car was called after Randle stopped on track on lap 70.

That set up an 11-lap fight to the finish and, while there was no change to the top four places there was plenty of action further back.

Waters dropped from fifth to seventh thanks to bold overtakes from Brodie Kostecki and Winterbottom at the Turn 4 and final hairpins respectively.

The latter move caused a concertina that resulted in Will Brown turning eighth-placed Scott Pye into the barrier.

Pye’s hopes of a top 10 finish had already been dashed by a 15s time penalty for a Safety Car restart infringement, having warmed his tyres after the SC lights were extinguished.

Eighth through 10^th were eventually filled by Andre Heimgartner, Chris Pither and Anton De Pasquale, who had been eighth before pitting for fresh tyres under the late Safety Car.

Brown copped a 15s time penalty for his contact with Pye, which left the duo 12^th and 13^th in the final classification respectively.

Just 18 of the 25 cars finished the race. James Courtney took the flag 21 laps adrift of the winner, having spent significant time in the garage following involvement in the early crash.

The 2022 Repco Supercars Championship concludes with the Valo Adelaide 500 on December 1-4.

RESULTS: Supercars Race 32, Gold Coast 500