Van Gisbergen makes Supercars statement

Saturday, 27 February 2021:

ANTON DE PASQUALE.
ANTON DE PASQUALE.


With Scott McLaughlin gone, Holden's Shane van Gisbergen has made an early statement he will be the dominant driver in the Supercars championship in 2021.

The New Zealander made a strong start to this year's campaign on Saturday with a confident victory in the opening race of the year at Bathurst.

In the first race since three-time defending champion McLaughlin's decision to move to the United States to pursue an IndyCar career, Van Gisbergen made the most of rivals' misfortunes to back up his win in last year's Bathurst 1000 with another Mount Panorama victory.

With early drama taking out McLaughlin's heir apparent at Dick Johnson Racing in Anton De Pasquale, and a mechanical gremlin wrecking pole-sitter Cameron Waters' day, Van Gisbergen always had an element of control as he held off Holden's Chaz Mostert to win by just more than a second.

"What an awesome way to start ... great car and awesome day," Van Gisbergen told Fox Sports.

"I don't know what happened to Cam, he sort of started struggling and slowing down so I caught him and then not sure what his problem was, but, yeah I had clear air and a light car and support as well.

"Yeah, good first day."

Mostert, who had finished on top of the timesheets in Friday's two practice sessions, came home second with Will Davison marking his return to Dick Johnson Racing with a third-place.

While that trio were all smiles, Saturday's race had its fair share of heartbreak too.

De Pasquale, making his first start since his move to DJR, crashed out on lap seven to end the day with a DNF next to his name.

Waters was also left shattered after he started from pole and opened up an early lead before a power-steering failure sent him spiralling to the rear of the field and an eventual 20th-place finish.

Tim Slade's fairytale return to full-time racing turned into a horror story with five laps to go as well, with the 35-year-old crashing out as he was challenging Davison for a podium finish.

The heavy contact left Slade's Blanchard Racing Team Ford with severe damage and he was not confident he would be back on track for Sunday's race.

"It was a pretty massive hit so I would doubt that we can fix it but I don't know, the guys haven't seen the car yet," Slade said.

"It's just a massive credit to the Cooldrive Auto Parts Blanchard Racing Team guys for everything up until this point and I feel absolutely shattered for them."

Sunday's action resumes with qualifying and top 10 shootout before the second and final 250km race from 3pm (AEDT).






AAP