With the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship and Superloop Adelaide 500 just around the corner, cams.com.au looks at the last time the drivers took to the famous street circuit.
Race 1:
Pole- Shane van Gisbergen
Winner - Shane van Gisbergen
Runner Up – James Courtney
Third – Scott McLaughlin
Race 2:Pole- Shane van Gisbergen
Winner - Shane van Gisbergen
Runner Up – David Reynolds
Third – Garth Tander
THE VICTORY
It was the perfect start to the new season for Triple Eight Racing as Shane van Gisbergen secured a clean sweep of the Championship’s opening round.
Behind the wheel of the brand new Holden Commodore ZB, van Gisbergen had a slow start in the opening race only for the team’s smart fuel strategy and the Kiwi’s determination allowed him to progress up the field
through a strong middle stint.
After finally passing James Courtney and Scott McLaughlin, van Gisbergen got in front and was able to hold the lead, despite three safety car periods towards the end of the race.
The next day was no different as the Kiwi claimed both qualifying and race honours, extending his perfect run at Adelaide to four straight wins and four straight poles.
He didn’t have it easy though, holding off a stubborn David Reynolds throughout the whole race, while Garth Tander secured a surprise third place for Garry Rogers Motorsport.
Some early race drama saw the leaders battling it out via pit stop strategies and by the 31st lap of the day, both Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin had suffered issues which saw any hope of a victory dashed.
A penalty to Mark Winterbottom for overusing the kerbs at the chicane saw his good work undone and with just 10 laps remaining, only 1.4 seconds separated the leading three of van Gisbergen, Reynolds and Tander.
Despite Reynolds having fresher tyres and pushing for the lead, van Gisbergen held on, one second ahead of the runner-up.
THE MOMENTS
In the first race, three safety cars in close proximity were called onto the track, with the last being just after lap 55 thanks to a trio of incidents that occurred not long after an earlier safety car.
On the restart of both occasions, van Gisbergen managed to get two car lengths ahead of his opponents and after the final run behind the safety car with just 16 laps to go, the Kiwi powered to a three second victory.
As for the second race, five laps after McLaughlin had had almost crashed out of the weekend, race leader Jamie Whincup gave up his 10 second lead when his transaxle failed on lap 31.
WHAT THE WINNERS SAID
Race one winner: Shane van Gisbergen
“What an awesome day, thank you so much to the Holden Red Bull Racing team. The new car is awesome.
“A really good race. Very tight with Scott and James, I was able to push. What an awesome crowd we have got.”
Race two winner: Shane van Gisbergen
“I love Adelaide, we have a dominant car, we battled, and the car was quick. It was awesome, can’t thank my team enough. An awesome debut for the car. A great way to start the year we just have to carry on the momentum.
“The car was a lot worse, it was a shame not have a one-two for the team but it was great.
“We need to keep understanding the car, we changed it today and it worked the wrong way, we need to not make as many mistakes as last year. It’s been an amazing three months watching these cars come on board. Today is a special moment.”