Supercars: Red Bull finish one-two in 250th start

In the team’s 250th round start, Red Bull drivers Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup have finished one-two in the opening race of the Armor All Sydney SuperNight.

It could’ve been a different story though, had it not been for a disastrous pit stop cruelling the chances of rookie Will Brown who started from pole and took out an early lead.

Shane Van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup

For the second week in a row, rookie Brown had problems in pit lane involving a tyre change. He was leading at the time of the incident, which ended his hopes of maiden career win and in turn opened the door for van Gisbergen and Whincup to take the lead.

From there, the Red Bull duo were never troubled and cleared away for a 1-2 result with van Gisbergen winning from Whincup.

Race start

Shell Ford’s Will Davison was third after holding off Nick Percat for the final spot on the podium.

Tonight’s result sees van Gisbergen join a small group of drivers to have won 13 or more races in a season and opened his Championship lead to 338 points over Whincup.

Race 23 at the ARMOR ALL Sydney Sydney SuperSprint marked van Gisbergen’s 13th win of the 2021 season, and 53rd of his career.

With the victory, he became the sixth driver to win 13 or more races in a year.

Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Jamie Whincup, who finished second behind van Gisbergen, has done it twice.

Whincup won 15 races in 2008 and 14 races in 2014; both years, he won the championship.

Tonight’s race is the first of two under lights this weekend in a first for the Eastern Creek venue.

Tomorrow could be a very different story with wet weather expected for the second night race of the event.

Race Results

POS No. DRIVER TEAM BEHIND
1 97 Van Gisbergen Red Bull Holden Racing Team +0.000s
2 88 Whincup Red Bull Holden Racing Team +17.002
3 17 Davison Shell V-Power Racing Team +24.715
4 8 Percat Brad Jones Racing +25.303
5 14 T. Hazelwood Brad Jones Racing +26.214
6 5 J. Le Brocq Truck Assist Racing +30.398
7 3 Slade CoolDrive Racing +32.916
8 6 C. Waters Monster Energy Racing +33.840
9 20 S. Pye Team 18 +38.927
10 2 B. Fullwood WAU Racing Pty Ltd +38.948
11 9 W. Brown Erebus Motorsport +47.502
12 11 A. de Pasquale Shell V-Power Racing Team +48.165
13 96 M. Jones SCT Motor Sports +50.482
14 25 Mostert WAU Racing Pty Ltd +54.330
15 44 Courtney Boost Mobile Racing +55.685
16 34 J. Kostecki Matt Stone Racing +57.694
17 19 Coulthard Team SYDNEY – Tekno +1:02.160
18 18 Winterbottom Team 18 +1:03.021
19 4 J. Smith SCT Motor Sports +1:03.983
20 22 G. Jacobson Team SYDNEY – Tekno +1:06.469
21 35 Z. Goddard Matt Stone Racing +1:07.838
22 55 T. Randle Castrol Racing +1:09.221
23 99 B. Kostecki Penrite Racing – Erebus +1:09.588
24 26 L. Youlden Nissan Motorsport +1:19.162
25 27 K. Kostecki NAPA Auto Parts Racing +1:25.667
NC 7 Heimgartner Nissan Motorsport +11 Laps