Shane Van Gisbergen has won last weekend’s Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint event 9 of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, Ipswich, Queensland. Australia.
The top two drivers in the championship, McLaughlin and Van Gisbergen both won a race and took a second-place finish, winning on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Van Gisbergen’s Saturday podium was set up by an eighth-to-third opening lap, and he then waltzed clear of McLaughlin into the lead on Sunday from the outside of the front row.
With Van Gisbergen crediting recent changes to his Red Bull HRT Commodore, McLaughlin – who struggled off the line in 2017 but has been better this year – says improvement is required.
Both of Van Gisbergen’s launches were key, pulling well clear of McLaughlin before the pair got to Turn 1 on Sunday. With the pair recording identical results, McLaughlin’s lead in the championship over van Gisbergen remains 131 points, after 20 of this year’s 31 races. Van Gisbergen could not gap the field in the opening stanza, which prompted McLaughlin to pit early on an undercut strategy.
The Shell V-Power Racing Falcon led through the middle phase of the 65 laps, but Van Gisbergen was back on top after the full pitstop cycle and pulled clear late.
Van Gisbergen agreed that track position played into his hands in the final stint, in the fight for the victory. McLaughlin got within three tenths, but could not find a way past and ultimately eased off to finish 2.3513 seconds behind.
