Jamie Whincup wins Race 2 at The Bend as teammate Shane van Gisbergen takes lead in the championship
SEVEN-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup has ended Red Bull Holden teammate Shane van Gisbergen’s dream run in South Australia, but the Kiwi leaves the historic first weekend at The Bend as the new championship leader.
- Live blog: Whincup triumph completes Triple 8 sweep
- Van the man: Kiwi dominates Race 1
- Thrilling hot lap around The Bend
- Next twist at The Bend
SEVEN-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup has ended Holden teammate Shane van Gisbergen’s dream run in South Australia after capturing Race 2 at The Bend with a flawless drive on an afternoon he controlled from start to finish.
Apart from South Australian Tim Slade gatecrashing in the opening stages, it was the Red Bull party at the new $110 million circuit outside the River Murray town southeast of Adelaide.
The leaderboard kept saying Whincup, van Gisbergen and everybody else could fight for third.
Whincup’s win ended van Gisbergen’s dominance of racing in South Australia after he had won the previous five races in the state — a clean sweep of the past two Adelaide 500s and the first race at The Bend on Saturday.
But there was still reason to celebrate for van Gisbergen, whose two podium finishes this weekend took him to the overall lead of the 2018 drivers championship.
He passed fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin, who had a forgettable weekend with two midfield finishes.
Whincup, the 2017 champion, put the Triple Eight Racing team’s recent run of form down the plain old hard work.
“A great day,” Whincup said. “Yesterday was disappointing, of course, just missing the podium.
“But my car was fantastic today and it was great to win on the first weekend here at Tailem Bend.
“It’s just hard work (the team’s dominance).
“I know it sounds cliched but at the end of the day we did our homework to make sure we came here strong and then worked really hard during the weekend.
“I don’t think there’s any more than that.
“The cars are all so similar — they all have the same power. It just comes down to what you do with it.”
Van Gisbergen said his race was done at the start.
Whincup had simply driven too well from there and kept away from all the potential jams around the circuit.
“We had the pace in qualifying … but mucked it up,” van Gisbergen said. “In the race, everyone just kept dropping in front of me.
“Lost the race at the start but awesome result, one-two.
“My car was awesome … Jamie was driving well.”
Slade, racing for Brad Jones Racing, had an auspicious start when he cut off van Gisbergen to settle second in the first real move of the race.
He stayed near the top of the race throughout the afternoon and looked like he would be the first local to snare a podium at The Bend before he ran off with just seven laps to go and allowed Erebus driver David Reynolds the chance to slip by.
There was also an eye-catching exchange between fellow South Australians Nick Percat and Scott Pye, with Percat squeezing past Pye late in the race after they bumped doors.
Overall, it was a fine weekend for South Australian motorsport with Slade finishing fourth, Percat fifth, Pye sixth and Todd Hazelwood 25th.
LAPS THAT MATTERED
By Cara Jenkin
LAP 1
JAMIE Whincup streaks to the lead off pole position. Tim Slade gets a strong start while Shane van Gisbergen falters. The two battle for second position over the first few corners, and the grandstand crowd cheers when local driver Slade wins the battle.
Wildcard driver Kurt Kostecki suffers so much damage in an altercation with Richie Stanaway that he pulls into the pits at the end of the lap and his day is done.
LAP 2
SEVERAL cars make their first of two compulsory pit stops at the end of the first lap.
LAP 4
ANDRE Heimgartner and Garth Tander clash as Tander is released from his pit stop. Heimgartner slams into the back of Tander’s car and his Nissan sustains damage to a front corner. He makes it around the course for a lap but pits and heads straight for the garage.
LAP 7
SIMONA de Silvestro serves a pit lane drive-through penalty for her release from the pit stop in which she drove side-by-side with another car for several metres.
LAP 21
LEE Holdsworth drives slowly off the racing line along pit straight, then takes a right turn and drives down a side road to avoid triggering a safety car.
LAP 25
GARTH Tander has a big off and tours across the grass.
LAP 28
NICK Percat and Scott Pye battle for several corners for sixth position. Percat wins, having moved up from his starting position of 15th.
LAP 30
MARK Winterbottom is the last of the drivers to pit. He set his fastest lap of the race on lap 26. Whincup leads the race from van Gisbergen and Slade.
LAP 34
SLADE locks a tyre which lets David Reynolds by for third position.
LAP 40
Whincup sets the fastest lap of the race at 1:50.5833. It is also a race lap record for the circuit.
LAP 41
Jamie Whincup finishes the race 11 seconds ahead of his teammate Shane van Gisbergen, with Reynolds in third place.
