Saturday, 25 August 2018:
 | | SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN driver of the Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FGX celebrates after winning the Ipswich SuperSprint, which is part of the Supercars Championship at Queensland Raceway in Ipswich, Australia. | |
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All has been forgiven for Shane van Gisbergen after the Holden star copped some straight talk from his team boss before conquering Supercars' newest track The Bend.
Van Gisbergen's Red Bull Racing (RBR) team were all smiles after the Kiwi reduced Ford gun Scott McLaughlin's Supercars series lead to just 41 points by claiming The Bend SuperSprint's very first race on Saturday.
Van Gisbergen kept his head at the treacherous track to win the 120km race at Supercars' new $110 million facility at Tailem Bend, an hour outside Adelaide.
He was more than six seconds clear of Nissan duo Rick Kelly and Michael Caruso in front of 15,700 fans.
But van Gisbergen wasn't winning any popularity contests at RBR before the race after earning the Holden heavyweights' ire for going off track and spraying dirt on his teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, hampering their qualifying stint.
It is believed team boss Roland Dane delivered the gobful despite van Gisbergen qualifying second behind pole sitter Whincup for the opening 24-lap race.
"I don't want to talk about that," he said when quizzed at the post-race press conference.
But he told Fox Sports: "It was a weird one.
"I came in (the garage) all happy, we were one-two, and then I started getting abused.
"So I walked off, I was all angry."
It led to a bizarre post-qualifying situation where a TV reporter tried to interview van Gisbergen about an on-track incident with McLaughlin, only for the Holden star to storm off thinking she was asking him about the RBR abuse.
Van Gisbergen regained his composure to claim his fifth straight victory in South Australia.
The Kiwi has won the last four races at the season-opening Adelaide 500.
Van Gisbergen arrived at the new track trailing McLaughlin by 89 points but is now in striking distance ahead of Sunday's 200km finale.
"It was about staying on the track. It was so hard. I just tried to behave," van Gisbergen said.
McLaughlin finished sixth.
The 18-turn, 4.95km track had created chaos in practice and qualifying as Supercars' biggest names came unstuck, spearing off corner after corner.
But the wild scenes expected in the race didn't eventuate with only one safety car emerging after Garth Tander's Holden broke down after six laps.
Van Gisbergen overtook pole sitter Whincup by the fifth lap but a seven second advantage over the field was cut when the safety car emerged a lap later.
Reigning series champion Whincup was the big loser during the safety car period, slipping from second to eighth when forced to wait behind van Gisbergen when they pitted.
He recovered to finish fourth.
