Shane van Gisbergen has claimed his 50th Supercars victory, extending his lead at the top of the 2021 standings in the process.
The Kiwi took out both races in the Townsville 500 at the weekend to bring up the achievement, and further extend his gap on Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Jamie Whincup in the season standings.
Today's win was van Gisbergen's 10th from 16 races in 2021, becoming just the seventh driver to have won 10 or more races in a season, with 15 races left in this campaign to rack up more victories.
Qualifying to start second for the race, van Gisbergen immediately had ground to make up from the start as he was shuffled back to fourth through the opening turn.
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Advertise with NZME.He was able to work back into third around the second turn but it wasn't until the 11th that he had worked back to his starting position.
Whincup, who started in pole position, held a clear lead early in the race, but after van Gisbergen was able to work back toward the front he looked to challenge Whincup at the front of the pack.
Shadowing him through the opening laps before the lead changed hands as the pair underwent their pit stops, van Gisbergen remained hot on the wheels of Whincup with 30 laps to go.
With 23 laps to go, both drivers had pitted twice, setting up a 23-lap sprint to find a winner.
While Whincup had held the advantage throughout the race, van Gisbergen found the lead with 13 laps to go, and raced on to win by almost three seconds.
"That's a pretty awesome number," van Gisbergen said of claiming his 50th race win in his career.
"Our cars were fantastic. Another subpar start from me and then I had to pay for it all race, but I feel a lot better. I paced myself, was a lot smoother and it's just awesome to get another 300-pointer."
With the win, van Gisbergen moves 245 points clear of Whincup at the top of the standings.
