Seven into five goes for van Gisbergen
A pair of seventh place finishes at the Coates Hire Ipswich 300 meeting in Queensland over the weekend has seen V8 Supercar racer Shane van Gisbergen consolidate his hard-earned fifth placing in this year's series' points standings. Fellow Kiwi Fabian Coulthard is eighth overall after two top five placings.
After qualifying sixth and finishing seventh in the first 45 lap race of the weekend on Saturday, van Gisbergen qualified eighth and finished seventh in the longer 65-lap on Sunday, the combined result netting him 192 points.
Not enough to worry fourth place Craig Lowndes who by winning both races took home 300, but more than enough to build a better buffer on the
driver in sixth place - which was Garth Tander but is now van Gisbergen's Stone Brothers Racing teammate Tim Slade.
Like Saturday's race, Sunday's was won by a resurgent Craig Lowndes from Mark Winterbottom and Jamie Whincup. Fourth on Saturday was
Fabian Coulthard from Russell Ingall and Will Davison, but on Sunday poleman Davison was fourth with Coulthard fifth, Ingall sixth and van Gisbergen again seventh
"I thought we would be in the top 10 this weekend and that’s what we got", commented van Gisbergen. "Two seventh places are good for the championship and Tander has had a couple of bad races so I have pulled away from him on the points table.”
"I was pretty happy after qualifying in 9th. It wasn’t as good as yesterday but we were only 0.18 off the front and we haven’t been like that all year. So that’s better and I’m feeling better inside the car.”
"It’s positive that we’re making headway and I’m feeling better about it all. The team is working well and Dave is doing a great job so we just need to step it up to try and catch the guys in front.”
On Saturday van Gisbergen qualified sixth and ran as high as fourth early on before being shuffled back to 15th when he pitted on lap 20. He then worked his way back up to seventh place at the flag.
"Qualifying was good and it was good to be back in the 10. I felt comfortable out there and the car felt OK but it’s just the other cars were better. It’s the most comfortable and happiest I have felt in the car in a few rounds but I’m still not fast enough.”
The V8 Supercar series now heads south for the ninth championship event on this year's schedule, the Sydney MotorSport Park 360 at the recently
reconfigured and re-named Eastern Creek circuit near Sydney over the August 25-26 weekend.
Race 1 (Sat) 45 laps
1. Craig Lowndes 54:57.5057
2. Mark Winterbottom 54:59.2252
3. Jamie Whincup 55:06.8865
4. Fabian Coulthard 55:09.2682
5. Russell Ingall 55:14.2466
6. Will Davison 55:14.7631
7. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Ford Falcon) 55:25.6607
8. Michael Caruso 55:30.8467
9. Tim Slade 55:35.1069
10. Steven Johnson 55:35.1530
Qualifying Race 2 (Sunday)
1. Will Davison 1:09.4828*
2. Mark Winterbottom 1:09.5046
3. Jamie Whincup 1:09.5078
4. Craig Lowndes 1:09.5776
5. Russell Ingall 1:09.5861
6. Jonathon Webb 1:09.6139
7. Fabian Coulthard 1:09.6441
8. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Ford Falcon) 1:09.6640
9. Michael Caruso 1:09.6968
10. Tony D'Alberto 1:09.7423
Race 2 (Sun) 65 laps
1. Craig Lowndes 01:18:23.0855
2. Mark Winterbottom 01:18:25.0614
3. Jamie Whincup 01:18:39.2308
4. Will Davison 01:18:46.8078
5. Fabian Coulthard 01:18:55.6134
6. Russell Ingall 01:18:56.4045
7. Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Ford Falcon) 01:18:57.7599
8. Tim Slade 01:18:59.1930
9. Michael Caruso 01:19:04.5473
10. Steve Owen 01:19:18.2868
Points after Rnd 8 of 15
1. Jamie Whincup 2052
2. Mark Winterbottom 1970
3. Will Davison 1876
4. Craig Lowndes 1796
5. Shane Van Gisbergen 1472
6. Tim Slade 1344
7. Garth Tander 1323
8. Fabian Coulthard 1261
9. Lee Holdsworth 1217
10. David Reynolds 1017
