Townsville 500 results: Shane van Gisbergen extends Supercars lead in flying Red Bull
Shane van Gisbergen continued his title blitz, dethroning Townsville king and Red Bull Teammate Jamie Whincup in bizarre scenes.
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Shane van Gisbergen continued his title blitz by storming past Jamie Whincup to win the first instalment of the Townsville 600.
Extending his championship lead and moving another step closer toward securing his second V8 crown, the Red Bull racer struck in the final stint to dethrone Townsville king Whincup.
In what became a one-on-one fight between the Holden teammates, van Gisbergen pounced on lap 70 to deny Whincup his 12th Reid Park win.
“That was a real physical race but thanks to the team because our car was awesome,” van Gisbergen said.
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“That was supercool (to get the win.)”
In steamy North Queensland conditions, Whincup was in contention to extend his Townsville record after beating van Gisbergen to turn one following a start-line win.
In control of the race after out-dragging his teammate, Whincup was not mowed down until lap 70 when van Gisbergen took advantage of fresh rubber.
“I knew I had one shot to do it until my rubber was cooked,” van Gisbergen said.
“And I got him so that was real cool. It was a tough race in the conditions and I am wrecked. But I will get myself fixed up and be ready to go again tomorrow (Sunday).
Van Gisbergen booked a front-row showdown with Whincup earlier in the day when he edged out his teammate to win the top-ten shoot-out.
Going out last with Whincup on top, van Gisbergen went 0.3 seconds faster to land his fifth pole of the year.
“It’s testament to the Red Bull Ampol Racing team,” van Gisbergen said.
“The car’s amazing. I saw the splits through the middle of the lap and I just saved the tyre for the last sector, for the race; unbelievable.
“But, it actually gave me more grip because I wasn’t wheel-spinning.
“I’m just the lucky guy who gets to drive this car; it’s a pretty special place to be in at the moment.”
Whincup was left bemused after being mowed down by his rival and eventually beaten by seven seconds.
“It is a great result for the team,” Whincup said.
“But I need to see where the seven seconds is for sure. I don’t know whether it is the car, driver, strategy … I am not sure but I will certainly go hunting for it tonight. It is sweet and sour because I am wrapped for the team but a little bit disappointed that I could not go one better after such a good start.”
While he was unable to match with his stable mate, Whincup finished more than 30 seconds in front of the next finisher, Anton De Pasquale.
The DJR Ford had no answer for the pace of the Red Bulls.
“My thing felt alright and I was in my own little race,” De Pasquale said.
“But I couldn’t see the other guys at the end so it is something we need to look at. We need to work out how we can go faster because our tyre life was good. We just need more speed because they were quicker in qualifying and also the race.”
‘RESILIENT’ SUPERCARS GIVEN SEASON GUARANTEE
The Covid crisis will not cut the Supercars season short with V8 boss Sean Seamer declaring the fight between Ford and Holden will go the full distance.
As the Townsville Covid forced double header began with Shane van Gisbergen storming to a practice day win, Seamer revealed Supercars had contingency plans to ensure a full season of racing should events like the upcoming Sydney Super Night be cancelled.
Set to be hosted on August 20, the Sydney Super Night is in doubt after 44 new cases of Covid were announced on Friday.
“We are obviously monitoring the situation closely like everyone in NSW,” Seamer said.
“The good thing for us right now is we have six weeks between today and the event at Sydney Motorsport Park. While the latest numbers are concerning for everybody, six weeks is a very long time when it comes to this situation. For us right now, it is full steam ahead for Sydney Motorsport Park. We will not have to make a decision on whether the event goes ahead or whether we will need to put special restrictions in place until much closer to the event.”
The Covid resurgence has also cast doubt on other events, including the Auckland SuperSprint.
With the future of international travel unknown, the November event may have to be shifted back to Australia.
With Townsville set to host back to back races, beginning on Saturday, after the Winton was cancelled earlier in the year, Seamer said Supercars had a number of options should the Covid crisis continue.
“I think we demonstrated to our fans and our partners that even in the worst of circumstances we were able to deliver an outstanding championship last year,” Seamer said.
“This year hasn’t been half as bad as what last year was and, should we need to, we will show the same resilience to keep the championship going.”
Despite the uncertain future facing all Australian sports, Seamer was confident of being able to deliver an extended national championship next year.
The chief executive hinted that Adelaide may again host an event after becoming a Covid casualty.
“I think what we have seen is the events that didn’t go ahead in 2020 are receiving a lot of support from the fans,” Seamer said.
“There is a lot of demand from the places that we haven’t been. It is our priority to get back to those places and maintain our national footprint.”
The Supercars show rolled on in Townsville with Dave Reynolds shocking the field to win the opening round of practice.
“It was an encouraging start,” Reynolds said.
“But we need to maintain the momentum and take the form through to the weekend when it counts.”
Shane van Gisbergen restored order when he went to the top to win practice session two.
“It didn’t feel that good but the time was good,” van Gisbergen said.
“We had a bad session one but the car was much better after we tweaked a few things.”
Why hottest seat in Supercars has proven big burden
Anton De Pasquale is adamant he has improvement left in him as Shell V-Power Racing search for a way to convert their slick one-lap times into race success.
De Pasquale joined the team this season, taking over from the departing Scott McLaughlin, to sit in a Mustang widely regarded as the fastest on the grid for the past three seasons.
Where McLaughlin dominated the competition, De Pasquale has struggled to find his feet.
The young driver has been impressive in his ability to put down fast qualifying times, a quintessential part of McLaughlin’s success, but a few wrong moves on the track have left the Shell V-Power driver without the results.
De Pasquale has failed to finish four races this season due to machine failures, with two of those coming from pole position in back-to-back races at Tailem Bend and Darwin.
His incident at Darwin included a six-car pile-up after a slick inside move from Shane van Gisbergen on the inside of turn one left de Pasquale in no-man’s land with cars coming.
De Pasquale will be determined to turn his form around at Reid Park this weekend, a track which has notoriously favoured the rival Holden Commodores.
“We are always changing and fine tuning what we do,” De Pasquale said.
“When you have been in a team for two or three years, everything is set and comfortable. You never change. We’re in a spot where we can tune the seat, tune the set-up and make small changes here and there.
“We want to replicate our speed in qualifying here and then in the race try and avoid a couple of incidents. You need to put yourself in the right place at the right time.
“We obviously had three poles in a row there and only one win. A couple of things I could have done better and a couple of things that could have fallen our way.
“We are fast enough for a podium every time we roll out of a truck.”
De Pasquale was adamant he had more to give the Shell V-Power Racing team behind the wheel, with the team improving with each race event they were together in the garage.
“This sport, and Supercars in particular, rewards experience and time. Teams and drivers get better and better. The more you do, the better you get,” he said.
“I will always be improving, I will retire one day and will still think I could have improved on my last race. We are nowhere near the peak of our powers.”
De Pasquale came under fire earlier this week from fellow driver Nick Percat with the pair duelling it out just outside the championships top five.
But Percat believes his young rival shouldn’t be slogging it out at that end of the top 10.
“It will be hard to stop Anton once he gets going in that car. I think he is making too many mistakes at the moment or otherwise he will be further up the championship,” Percat said.
The Shell V-Power Racing team have enjoyed plenty of success in Townsville in recent seasons with McLaughlin claiming four wins over the past four years.
But it is a surface that has belonged to the garage next door with Triple Eight Race Engineering, led by the King of the North Jamie Whincup, who have dominated the podiums in Townsville.
De Pasquale knows he will have to produce his best to overcome their dominance on the track, but he also just wants to have fun on the street circuit.
“Our set-up changes throughout the weekend, we have a car that we know is fast,” he said.
“But we need to get it suited to us. It is the first time in these cars on a street track for myself and Will (Davison).
“I guess the longer the race the more chance you have to recover from something that might have gone wrong, but it is still a sprint race. You just have to drop fuel and put more tyres on, but we are still speeding from start to finish.”
Originally published as Townsville 500 results: Shane van Gisbergen extends Supercars lead in flying Red Bull
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