Shane van Gisbergen has won the second race of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship, securing victory in Sunday’s 250km outing at the Thrifty Newcastle 500.
 
It was a much happier Sunday for van Gisbergen who was earlier disqualified from Saturday’s race for a technical breach was discovered following a Stewards hearing. Sunday’s victory allowed him to officially claim his first win of the 2023 season ahead of Chaz Mostert.
 
At the race start, Chaz Mostert jumped pole-sitter David Reynolds on the run to turn one, before the safety car was called following an incident on the start line which forced Declan Fraser out of the race.
 
The race was red flagged before a lap could be completed, with Fraser’s incident causing a concrete barrier to move out of place, requiring some short repairs.
 
Once the fix was complete, Mostert extended his lead over Reynolds at the restart, with fellow Mustang pilot Cameron Waters making up the top three – all choosing to run longer on their first stint of the race than most of the field.
 As the race went on, Waters caught the back of Mostert on lap 47, with the former teammates enjoying a close and enjoyable battle on track.
 
That fight continued for several laps before the speedy Waters made contact with the wall, suffering a bent a steering arm, forcing him to pit for repairs and lose valuable time and a number of positions.
 
Waters’ dramas saw his chances of victory effectively disappear, falling as low as 17th, while van Gisbergen was able to inherit second before the final set of pit stops took place and show his speed as he set his sights on the race win.
 
With van Gisbergen running longer in his second stint, the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver enjoyed fresher tyres for the final stage of the race, chasing Mostert in the dying laps of the race pulling in what was an eight second gap to take the lead.
 
van Gisbergen would go on to secure the race win by just over four seconds ahead of Mostert, with Reynolds rounding out the podium.
 
The Kiwi didn’t have much to say after the race but was understandably pleased to have claimed the race win.
 
“I did my talking on the track today,” van Gisbergen said.
 
The Supercars field now turns its attention to the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2023 for its second round of the season at Albert Park on 30 March – 2 April.