VAN GISBERGEN SCORES FIRST V8 SUPERCAR PODIUM IN ABU DHABI
SP Tools Racing's Shane van Gisbergen has claimed the first podium position of his fast-rising V8 Supercar career after finishing the second of the opening 2010 series round's two 200km races at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi last night (Saturday) in third place.
Van Gisbergen, the youngest fulltime driver in the series, was thrilled with his podium result that was capped off with taking out the new V8 Supercar lap record at the circuit.
After storming back from an early race incident to finish a fighting sixth in the first 200km race of the weekend on Friday night, the 20-year-old Kiwi set the eighth quickest lap time in the second qualifying session on Saturday afternoon then worked his way up to third in the race, won by Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup from Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom, van Gisbergen and Jack Daniels Racing's Rick Kelly.
The result leaves van Gisbergen in fourth place in the series points standings after one round behind Whincup, Winterbottom and Craig Lownes.
Shane van Gisbergen – Driver, SP Tools Racing Car #9
“I’m so excited to have finally got on the podium, this result has been a long time coming for me!
“I want to thank Ross and Jimmy for giving me this opportunity, it’s been three years with SBR and I feel like I have finally rewarded the guys for all their hard work. I would have loved my dad and Kev and Tommy from SP Tools to have been here but I guess we will wait to celebrate when I get back to Queensland."
“The car felt strong all day, I feel like we were better in qualifying and managed to stay out of trouble in the race which was the plan. I was telling myself to keep it together on the last few laps but when I crossed the line it just felt great to have finally finished on the podium. “
The Stone Brothers Racing Team will now head to Bahrain for the Desert 400 with qualifying set for Thursday 25th Feb.
YAS V8 400, Race 2 (43 Laps) – RESULTS
1 1 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup
2 5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon/Mark Winterbottom
3 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane Van Gisbergen
4 15 Jack Daniels Racing/Rick Kelly
5 888 TeamVodafone/Craig Lowndes
6 18 Jim Beam Racing/James Courtney
7 33 Fujitsu Racing / GRM/Lee Holdsworth
8 17 Jim Beam Racing/Steven Johnson
9 39 Supercheap Auto Racing/Russell Ingall
10 14 Trading Post Racing/Jason Bright
YAS V8 400, Qualifying Race 2
1 1 TeamVodafone/Jamie Whincup 1:58.1140R
2 5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon/Mark Winterbottom 1:58.6620
3 18 Jim Beam Racing/James Courtney 1:58.6790
4 22 Toll Holden Racing Team/Will Davison 1:58.8540
5 14 Trading Post Racing/Jason Bright 1:58.9000
6 33 Fujitsu Racing / GRM/Lee Holdsworth 1:59.3560
7 4 IRWIN Racing/Alex Davison 1:59.4180
8 9 SP Tools Racing/Shane Van Gisbergen 1:59.5250
9 888 TeamVodafone/Craig Lowndes 2:09.2870
10 55 The Bottle-O Racing Team/Paul Dumbrell 1:59.1360
Series points
1. Jamie Whincup 300 points
2. Mark Winterbottom 267
3. Craig Lowndes 249
4. Shane Van Gisbergen 231
5. James Courtney 222
6. Lee Holdsworth 207
7. Rick Kelly 198
8. Paul Dumbrell 165
9. Steven Johnson 152
10. Jonathon Webb 141
11. Michael Caruso 132
12. Tim Slade 129
13. Jason Bargwanna 126
14. Jason Bright 120
15. Jason Richards 111
16. Fabian Coulthard 111
17. Steven Richards 111
18. Alex Davison 108
19. Russell Ingall 108
20. Tony D'Alberto 99
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