Van Gisbergen wins the first ever Supercars race at The Bend

Shane van Gisbergen (Red Bull Holden) wins the first race of the OTR SuperSprint at The Bend Motorsport Park, the eleventh round of the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship and the first ever Supercars race at the new race track in South Australia’s Tailem Bend.

It’s the sixth win of the season for Van Gisbergen in the #97 Holden ZB Commodore and he decreased a gap behind the championship leader Scott McLaughlin (DJR Team Penske), who finished sixth today, to just 41 points.

Nissan Motorsport will have good memories of the first ever Supercars race at The Bend because two Nissan Altima drivers reached a podium. Rick Kelly finished second, 6.2602 seconds behind SVG, while his teammate Michael Caruso was third, 8.9122 seconds behind the race winner.

The pole-sitter Jamie Whincup finished fourth in his #1 Holden, in front of Mark Winterbottom (Tickford Racing) as the best Ford driver. Will Davison, James Courtney, Chaz Mostert and Craig Lowndes completed the top 10.