FIRST RACE BRINGS POINTS BONUS
He had an up and down run early on but an eighth place finish in the first race at the Sucrogen Townsville 400 V8 Supercar meeting on Saturday afternoon was enough to elevate Stone Brothers Racing's young SP Tools-backed Ford Falcon driver Shane van Gisbergen back up to third in the overall series points standings behind James Courtney and Jamie Whincup.
After setting the sixth fastest lap time in the morning qualifying session then backing that up with ninth in the Top Ten Shootout van Gisbergen had his patience sorely tested by HRT driver Will Davison early in the race before working his way back up to what eventually turned out to be a worthwhile eighth place at the flag.
Shane van Gisbergen – Driver, SP Tools Racing Car #9
“I got pushed around a fair bit at the start; a couple of laps in Courtney and his teammate came together and I had to go the long way around and fell back a fair bit. Speed-wise we were matching it with the group in front and we caught them but no one was making it easy to get past and there was a fair bit going on. Then I mucked up in the first pit stop by overshooting the mark so I was left to do it all over again on the track and make up for time lost. It was a tough race physically too, I have been sick all week and the race really took it out of me. That said, it's great to be back up to third in the points even though a couple of guys behind have really closed the gap. But being back in third is a good feeling, and we will be doing everything we can to stay there.”
Sucrogen Townsville 400 Race 15 (72 laps) – RESULTS
1 Jamie Whincup
2 Garth Tander
3 Mark Winterbottom
4 Lee Holdsworth
5 James Courtney
6 Russell Ingall
7 Jason Richards
8 Shane van Gisbergen
9 Steve Richards
10 Paul Dumbrell
Top Ten Shootout
1 Jamie Whincup 1:13.3223
2 Mark Winterbottom 1:13.6361
3 Garth Tander 1:13.8638
4 Jason Bright 1:13.8859
5 James Courtney 1:13.9123
6 Steven Johnson 1:13.9416
7 Fabian Coulthard 1:14.0071
8 Lee Holdsworth 1:14.0149
9 Shane van Gisbergen 1:14.5248
10 Craig Lowndes 1:14.6617
Qualifying 1
1 Craig Lowndes 1:13.0511
2 Jamie Whincup 1:13.0634
3 Mark Winterbottom 1:13.2559
4 Jason Bright 1:13.3126
5 James Courtney 1:13.3422
6 Shane van Gisbergen 1:13.5284
7 Garth Tander 1:13.5838
8 Steven Johnson 1:13.5924
9 Lee Holdsworth 1:13.6042
10 Fabian Coulthard 1:13.6186
Championship Points – at end of Race 15
1 James Courtney 1809
2 Jamie Whincup 1791
3 Shane van Gisbergen 1502
4 Craig Lowndes 1479
5 Mark Winterbottom 1473
6 Garth Tander 1380
7 Lee Holdsworth 1338
8 Rick Kelly 1286
9 Michael Caruso 1187
10 Steven Johnson 1112
15 Tim Slade 882
21 Alex Davison 675
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