[ad_1]
Shane van Gisbergen brought the Supercars curtain down at Pukekohe Park in sensational style on Sunday.
Not only did he win the final race by coming from eighth on the starting grid to claim victory, but also picked up the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy for a third time.
Van Gisbergen winning like he did was the perfect way for Supercars to depart Pukekohe, with the local hero putting on one of his best ever displays at his local circuit.
When he won the earlier race on Sunday, he made amends for a tough Saturday where he only finished fifth and created one of the most emotional weekends of his career.
READ MORE:
* Legends of Kiwi motorsport hit track for emotional farewell to Pukekohe Park
* Huge crowd made Andre Heimgartner feel like he was Supercars winner at Pukekohe
* New Zealand motorsport faithful looking for fairytale final weekend at Pukekohe
Van Gisbergen celebrated by doing the burnout of all burnouts down the home straight, then getting out of the car to soak up the adulation from the huge crowd, who got the result they‘d hoped for.
This took all of Van Gisbergen’s talent to come from eighth to first, particularly to get past Cameron Waters with three laps to go and even he didn’t think it was possible.
Andre Heimgartner finished third, for his second podium of the weekend and showing that the Kiwi is emerging as a real force in Supercars.
It was a drama filled final race, which began when James Courtney went into the wall on turn one on the first lap and spectators then got to watch 11 laps of a safety car leading the procession.
Van Gisbergen wasn’t able to make up any spots before the yellow flag came out, but by lap 15 when racing had got underway again, he got past David Reynolds to move to seventh.
For the second day in a row, the speedy work by the BJR pit crew benefitted Heimgartner as he was able to jump Broc Feeney to move up a place.
But this was Will Davison’s race to lose, which is exactly what he did. Or rather his pit crew did.
He went in for his compulsory stop in the lead and once that was completed there wouldn’t have been any catching him in his red-hot DJR Ford Mustang.
But the left rear wheel nut wasn’t done up before Davison’s car was dropped and he sped away. It resulted in the wheel just hanging on, having to pit again on the next lap and then copping a penalty. All of which blew his chances of winning.
With 10 laps to go, the order was Waters, Heimgartner and Van Gisbergen, but the veteran Kiwi soon got past his younger compatriot.
Waters wouldn’t be as easy to overtake, although when he locked up on lap 35 coming out of the hairpin, he only just managed to stay in front.
A lap later at the same spot, Van Gisbergen led for all of 200m but Waters then had him on the criss-cross.
However, with three laps left Van Gisbergen made the move stick this time, getting in front, then blocking Waters.
From there he was never going to be overtaken with celebrations already underway in the crowd before he went past the chequered flag.
He also won the penultimate Supercars race, which was shorted from 41 to 37 laps, because of a serious crash by Will Brown, caused by Mark Winterbottom.
Van Gisbergen led from the first lap to the last for what was his 17th victory. Second was Chaz Mostert and Waters filled the bottom step on the podium.
Andre Heimgartner finished sixth, while Chris Pither was 19th.
It was a tough weekend all round for Pither, who finished the final race 16th.
But this weekend was all about Van Gisbergen, who gave Pukekohe Park the fairytale finish it deserved.
[ad_2]
Source link