October 28, 2014 - Lucas Oil’s Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb starred at the Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600, the pair winning Saturday’s 300km race, while a controversial drive-through penalty denied them a certain podium in Sunday’s finale.
The TEKNO Autosports duo used strong race pace and superior race strategy to win the opening 300km contest in style, after Van Gisbergen claimed pole – his third of the year – in the Top 10 Shootout earlier that day.
“[Winning] certainly helped ease the disappointment of Bathurst,” Van Gisbergen said.
“The racing was high intensity and we had to work for it. [Second-placed] Jamie Whincup was pretty quick so I had to pull out some good laps to make sure we built a gap on him.”
The win was Van Gisbergen’s fourth of the year, and Webb’s second career victory.
The duo looked to go two in a row in Sunday’s race, the VIP Petfoods/Lucas Oil Commodore closing in on race leader Whincup when Van Gisbergen was served a drive through penalty for overlapping with the car in front on a race restart.
He rejoined the race in 21st but was able to charge back to fifth over the remaining 53 laps, the penalty leaving Van Gisbergen fuming.
“I don’t really understand the penalty and I’m annoyed we didn’t get a chance to redress it unlike others who have done the same thing. They just gave us a straight penalty which hurt us.”
Although denied back-to-back wins, Webb isn’t ruing what could have been.
“I thought it was more wild and out of control on Saturday and they let people get away with it but we just did as best as we could. Shane did an awesome job to get back to fifth,” Webb said.
“It would have been nice to get another surfboard but as far as points are concerned, Shane’s well in the hunt for a strong finish to the year.”
Van Gisbergen and Webb’s fifth place finish Sunday moved the pair to third overall in the Pirtek Endurance Cup, which was contested over the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600 events.
Van Gisbergen also moved to third in the V8 Supercar Championship, just 76 points off second with two rounds remaining – the Phillip Island 400 and the Sydney NRMA 500.
“Last year at Phillip Island we were average but I’m pretty sure we have sorted out what we need to have a strong car there,” Van Gisbergen said.
“We’ve had one of the fastest cars at the past couple of rounds but I’m just keeping it all in perspective,” he said.
“Winning the title is out of the question, Whincup is too far ahead, but that won’t stop us from pushing hard to lock away second.”
2014 V8 Supercars Championship Series
Top 10 Drivers' Championship Points
Top 10 Teams' Championship Points
* Single-car team.
