Eastern Creek V8 Supercars: Shane van Gisbergen wins again

The leaders were four abreast into Turn 1, with van Gisbergen taking the honours and leading out of the corner, beating poleman Scott McLaughlin, Jamie Whincup and Fabian Coulthard.

McLaughlin's Garry Rogers Motorsport engineers had worked tirelessly between races to change his engine following the race one retirement, but the Volvo would lose a wheel early in the race, falling nine laps down as a result.

That incident allowed Whincup to move into second, and while he looked to have some pace to challenge van Gisbergen, Robert Dahlgren's off at Turn 5 in the other Volvo brought out the safety car and prevented Whincup from progressing towards the lead.

On the restart Coulthard and James Moffat edged Whincup out wide for second and third, but Moffat soon drifted wide himself and fell right back to 17th.

Van Gisbergen also showed he was mortal, going wide into the grass, and although he was able to maintain the lead, his advantage was right back down to less than a second.

Coulthard then fell down the order to fifth as he struggled for grip, while van Gisbergen managed to pull away from Whincup in second, helped by the championship leader running wide and falling seven seconds behind.

That allowed Chaz Mostert to catch the tail of Whincup, before another safety car as a result of Scott Pye's retirement set up a dramatic dash to the finish.

When the green flag was waved van Gisbergen and Whincup went side by side, but it was Mostert who took the advantage by passing Whincup, and he almost got the jump on van Gisbergen.

Given one more lap Mostert might have overtaken the race one winner, but it was van Gisbergen who held off the Ford Performance Racing driver for the win, with Whincup third.

Jason Bright drove a measured race to bring his Brad Jones Holden home fourth, and Will Davison kept it clean to finish fifth.

Results - 24 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Shane van Gisbergen  Tekno Holden           47m02.9787s
 2.  Chaz Mostert         FPR Ford                  +0.7167s
 3.  Jamie Whincup        Triple Eight Holden       +3.3736s
 4.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden         +5.4642s
 5.  Will Davison         Erebus Mercedes           +8.8532s
 6.  James Moffat         Nissan                   +11.2052s
 7.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden        +14.3714s
 8.  James Courtney       HRT Holden               +15.1094s
 9.  Rick Kelly           Nissan                   +16.0602s
10.  Russell Ingall       Dumbrell Holden          +16.9037s
11.  Craig Lowndes        Triple Eight Holden      +17.3905s
12.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                 +19.1792s
13.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR Ford        +20.4292s
14.  David Wall           Dick Johnson Ford        +24.7174s
15.  Lee Holdsworth       Erebus Mercedes          +26.8372s
16.  Jack Perkins         Schwerkolt/FPR Ford      +29.5075s
17.  Todd Kelly           Nissan                   +29.6956s
18.  Dale Wood            Britek/BJR Holden        +33.6576s
19.  Nick Percat          Walkinshaw/HRT Holden    +34.3539s
20.  Michael Caruso       Nissan                      -1 lap
21.  Scott Pye            Dick Johnson Ford          -2 laps

Retirements:

     Garth Tander         HRT Holden                 21 laps
     Scott McLaughlin     GRM Volvo                   8 laps
     Robert Dahlgren      GRM Volvo                    1 lap
     Tim Slade            Rosenberg/HRT Holden        0 laps