Shane van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki have put on a show in Saturday’s Supercars race, the pair enjoying an epic battle at Wanneroo Raceway.
 
van Gisbergen won the fight crossing the line first in the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint, while Kostecki finished the day just 0.6 seconds behind the 2022 Champion. While it wasn’t a race win, Kostecki’s strong result sees him maintain his Championship lead with two races to come on Sunday.
 
It was a great Saturday for van Gisbergen, with the Kiwi earlier claiming pole during an intense three-part qualifying session.
 
Once the day’s only race got underway, Kostecki jumped van Gisbergen off the line to take the lead at turn one and continue his strong start to 2023.
 
As the race progressed, Kostecki and van Gisbergen traded fastest laps and remained in a tight battle for the lead – less than a second separating the pair throughout the early stages.
 
On lap 18, van Gisbergen made his move on the 2023 Championship leader – passing at turn one and taking the lead.
 
That move forced Kostecki into the pits for his mandatory stop – aiming for the undercut on the 2022 Champion to regain the lead.
 
While the undercut would prove successful on van Gisbergen, Kostecki did emerge from the pits behind David Reynolds, who pulled off an undercut of his own.
 
That didn’t last long though, with fresher tyres allowing Kostecki to pass Reynolds on lap 27 of the 42-lap affair.
 
van Gisbergen himself would pit on lap 28, emerging behind the leading pack – but the fresher rubber meant he had the pace and was eager to push past those in front to claim the race win.
 
In the closing stages of the race, van Gisbergen and Kostecki enjoyed one of the year’s best battles to date, with van Gisbergen eventually getting past on lap 40.
 
Kostecki held onto second, while Reynolds rounded out the podium in third.
 
van Gisbergen was thrilled with the finish, complimenting Kostecki on the on-track fight.
 
“I hope everyone enjoyed that, that was really cool,” van Gisbergen said.
 
“I got a bad start (and lost position), and while the car was good but I couldn’t quite get through.
 
“We had a pretty awesome battle in the middle (of the race) but we were losing time to the people who pitted – but our stop was awesome and we were able to drive through to catch those guys.”
 
For the full results from Saturday’s race, head to the Supercars website.
 
Teams and drivers will enjoy two more races tomorrow, along with two quick-fire qualifying sessions on Sunday morning to set the grid.