Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander claimed their first victory together, in the closing race of the Vodafone Gold Coast 600.
In what was a record-breaking weekend with 198.738 people through the gates. Red Bull Holden Racing once again secured a one-two on the famous street circuit, with Shane van Gisbergen taking the win over teammate Jamie Whincup who took the win on Saturday.
“We had the short tyre strategy and had to run them long at the end, it was struggling a little bit but trying to manage the tyre life, then Dave put the pressure on and we had to speed up again.”
What an awesome weekend. Two one-twos for the Red Bull Holden Racing Team it’s really special to be a part of it, said van Gisbergen.
The talking point of the weekend was that Scott McLaughlin could have clinched the Supercars championship with a strong performance on the Gold Coast, but that quickly unravelled and soon became the story of the day with a massive crash in the morning qualifying session for car 17.
Mclaughlin lost control after clipping a concrete wall at 135km/h during qualifying session which fired his car into the right-hand side wall and flipping it onto its side and against the wall.
In an act of great sportsmanship, McLaughlin’s greatest Championship rival and good friend Shane van Gisbergen stopped his Commodore behind the stricken Mustang and ran to assist the medical and emergency teams that arrived on the scene.
McLaughlin was taken to hospital for observation a short time later and was given the all-clear later in the day.
In what was a rarity on the Gold Coast the last race of the weekend was Safety Car-free, that is really surprising especially after a four-car pileup taking place on the opening lap.
The weekends result with McLaughlin missing the race means his Championship lead is cut to 463-points. Had he finished Sunday’s race ahead of or close enough to van Gisbergen, he would’ve sealed this year’s crown.
As team’s preparations for next month’s final event of the PIRTEK Enduro Cup van Gisbergen and Tander lead the endurance standings by 36 points to Whincup and Lowndes.
The Penrite Oil Sandown 500 runs in Melbourne from 8-10 November as the tradition retro round of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.
The weekend was one of the amazing highlights and racing stories and off-track moments, and here are a few of our favourite images from the Gold Coast 600 Weekend.
