Van Gisbergen charges to victory

Date published : 19 Jun 2011 - 07:23:19

Stone Brothers Ford driver Shane van Gisbergen took the second win of his V8 Supercars career with a superb late charge in race two at Hidden Valley.Like Saturday's race winner Rick Kelly, van Gisbergen started only 12th on the grid, but made rapid progress up the order and then pounced on the leaders in the closing stages - although unlike Kelly, van Gisbergen did not require any carnage ahead to pull off his victory.The early laps had seen Garry Rogers Motorsport's Lee Holdsworth swiftly move into the lead as he chose to use his set of soft tyres in the first stint. Championship leader Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight Holden) was on the same strategy, but fell from second to fifth at the start, allowing Holdsworth to make a break as Whincup regained the lost ground.He was back up to second by the time the safety car came out on lap 12, following an engine failure for Jason Bright that caused an oil spill and a series of incidents. As alternate pit strategies played out, Will Davison briefly led before Holdsworth and Whincup fought their way back to the front, with Whincup finally claiming the lead just before half-distance.Going into the closing stages, Whincup led Holdsworth, Craig Lowndes, polesitter Mark Winterbottom and van Gisbergen, with all bar the lead pair now onto their soft tyres. Lowndes then took second from Holdsworth just before a heavy crash for Karl Reindler prompted another safety car on lap 58.At the restart with seven laps to go, Lowndes pounced on team-mate Whincup for the lead, and the latter was swiftly pushed back down to fourth behind Winterbottom and van Gisbergen as well.Two laps later van Gisbergen sliced past Winterbottom for second and then quickly closed in on Lowndes, passing him for the lead with two and a half laps to go. He then held off Lowndes, Winterbottom and Tim Slade to claim the victory.Whincup and Holdsworth faded right back to sixth and 15th, as Russell Ingall came through to fifth.Saturday winner Kelly was only 20th, having been one of many drivers to go off on Bright's oil.Results - 69 laps:Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Shane van Gisbergen Stone Brothers Ford 1h27m04.3716s 2. Craig Lowndes Triple 8 Holden + 0.8939s 3. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford + 1.7301s 4. Tim Slade Rosenberg/SBR Ford + 2.1758s 5. Russell Ingall Paul Morris Holden + 5.0776s 6. Jamie Whincup Triple 8 Holden + 7.2026s 7. Will Davison FPR Ford + 7.8132s 8. Alex Davison Stone Brothers Ford + 10.7096s 9. Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Ford + 11.3049s10. Jason Bargwanna Brad Jones Holden + 12.9899s11. Paul Dumbrell Rod Nash/FPR Ford + 13.1486s12. Michael Caruso Garry Rogers Holden + 14.7346s13. James Moffat Dick Johnson Ford + 16.0662s14. Steve Owen Paul Morris Holden + 16.0936s15. Lee Holdsworth Garry Rogers Holden + 18.1594s16. Jonathon Webb Tekno Ford + 20.6097s17. Tony D'Alberto D'Alberto Ford + 24.7720s18. Fabian Coulthard Walkinshaw Holden + 27.8393s19. Dean Fiore Triple F Ford + 29.0786s20. Rick Kelly Kelly Holden + 39.6481s21. David Reynolds Kelly Holden + 45.5042s22. Greg Murphy Kelly Holden + 1 lap23. Warren Luff Dumbrell Holden + 1 lap24. James Courtney HRT Holden + 6 laps25. Karl Reindler Britek/BJR Holden + 6 laps26. Garth Tander HRT Holden + 13 lapsRetirements: Todd Kelly Kelly Holden 45 laps Jason Bright Brad Jones Holden 10 laps