Holden’s Shane van Gisbergen scores first win of 2020 in Townsville SuperSprint

The former series champion ended a frustrating run by claiming race two of the Townsville round, more than eight seconds ahead of Ford gun Scott McLaughlin with van Gisbergen’s teammate Jamie Whincup third at the Reid Park street circuit.

It ended a 23-race wait for the flying Kiwi to finally savour success this year and also marked his first win since 2019’s final round in Newcastle last November.

Van Gisbergen’s season to date was summed up in the Townsville round’s opener on Saturday when he qualified second-fastest and even led the race before ultimately failing to finish due to power steering issues.

Holden’s Shane van Gisbergen powers to victory in Townsville.

Van Gisbergen qualified fourth-fastest for Sunday’s opener and took the lead on the final turn of lap seven, overtaking surprise pole sitter Nick Percat, and was never threatened either side of the race’s compulsory pit stop.

“It feels good after the weeks we have had but the crew has never given up so it was good to get a win like that - we smoked them,” said van Gisbergen, who qualified 12th fastest for Sunday’s final 39-lap race.

TRIPLE EIGHT MAKES HISTORY

Van Gisbergen’s win also made history for his Triple Eight Race Engineering team, ensuring they were the first in Supercars to earn win No.200.

“That’s win number 200 for the team, what a great feeling,” van Gisbergen said.

“Hopefully we can put on a show again in the next race.”

It also marked the 18th time van Gisbergen had shared a podium with teammate Whincup.

“From P5 (starting at fifth on grid) we obviously had some work to do but they tuned it up overnight,” seven time series champion Whincup said.

“Obviously to be part of Triple Eight’s 200th win is something I am pretty proud of.”

Triple Eight Race Engineering make history with 200 race wins and SVG lights it up on his way into @PirtekAUS Victory Lane!

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