Shane van Gisbergen takes Supercars win in Albert Park, Melbourne, after crash throughout apply

Shane van Gisbergen has claimed his second official win for the 2023 season within the first Thursday race in V8 Supercars’ 63-year historical past.

The reigning Supercars Champion took claimed victory for Race Three at Melbourne‘s Albert Park following a dramatic spin-out in apply.

The Triple Eight driver misplaced management of his Pink Bull Camaro after his left rear wheel caught the grass, sending him whirling down the observe and right into a concrete wall.

Gisbergen appeared shaken after the crash however shortly recovered for qualifying classes three and 4. 

He praised his workforce for repairing the harm to the rear of his automobile and spoiler in time for qualifying.

‘Because of my workforce. After what I did to the automobile this morning, tried to put in writing the automobile off,’ he joked.

‘Patched it up like they did, then two good qualis (sic) and a race win. Stoked.’ 

Gisbergen began Race Three in third place behind Erebus Coca-Cola’s Brodie Kostecki in second and Shell V-Energy’s De Pasquale in pole place.

The victory means Gisbergen has completed first on observe in each race this season however he was stripped of his Race One win for working an unlawful cooling system. 

Kostecki and his Coca-Cola Racing teammate Will Brown crammed the remaining spots on Thursday’s podium.

In fourth was Pink Bull’s Brock Feeney leading to Camaros claiming the 4 prime spots.

Feeney has additionally scored 5 bonus championship factors for driving the quickest lap of the race. 

Chaz Mostert broke the Camaro streak within the Mobil 1 Optus Mustang by taking out fifth place. He is maintained his championship lead by simply 31 factors. 

The race was divided in two by pit stops with half the automobiles solely stopping on the finish of Lap 17 of 19.  

Race Three marked the primary time in Supercars historical past a race has run on a Thursday (pictured, flip one in all Race Three)

Shane van Gisbergen managed to say victory on Thursday following a dramatic crash (above) that broken the rear of his automobile throughout apply

De Pasquale was one of many late-pitting automobiles and missed an opportunity on the podium after a sluggish cease, ending in sixth.

Van Gisbergen additionally suffered a sluggish pit cease with the workforce fumbling the precise rear tyre, costing the Kiwi his two-second margin over Kostecki only one lap earlier than the race’s finish.

Quantity 23 driver Tim Slade climbed 5 locations to complete in twentieth following a crash at flip 5 throughout apply.

His automobile suffered vital rear and left-corner harm after hitting the concrete barrier with the Nulon Racing V8’s left-rear wheel left hanging free.

Slade’s workforce managed to repair the automobile simply 5 minutes earlier than the flag dropped for Race Three however his absence from qualifying resulted in a pit lane begin.

A strategic tyre transfer by the Triple Eight and Erebus groups caught the attention of officers within the final lap of the race.

Groups had been informed they’d be required to make use of two differing tyre compound units for the Melbourne race however the observe was declared moist at first, nullifying the rule.

Chaz Mostert within the Mobil 1 Optus Mustang (above) has retained his 2023 championship lead by 31 factors

As a substitute, groups had been solely required to modify out two of the automobile’s tyres over the course of the race however the loophole was solely absolutely realised on Lap 18.

Erebus and Pink Bull each swapped simply two tyres on their automobiles, giving them a big benefit over the remainder of the observe.

Thursday’s 19-lap race was first of 4 this week set to run on the identical observe as Sunday’s Australian F1 Grand Prix.

V8 Supercars will return to the observe for a 15-lap race at 2.55pm on Friday.