One more 1-2 victory for Red Bull Holdens at Townsville

Shane van Gisbergen wins the second race of the Watpac Townsville 400 event, the 8th round of the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, by beating Red Bull Holden team-mate Jamie Whincup. It’s the second 1-2 victory for Red Bull Holden Racing Team in two days following yesterday’s win of Whincup.

For Shane van Gisbergen, it’s the third win of the season and 29th in a career. It helps him to cut the championship lead of Scott McLaughlin (DJR Team Penske) to 131 points after eighteen races. McLaughlin finished third today at the Townsville street circuit, same as yesterday.

David Reynolds (Erebus Motorsport) stayed third in the championship standings after today’s sixth place, just sixteen points ahead of Jamie Whincup.

Shane van Gisbergen celebrates his third win of the season

Van Gisbergen started from pole in today’s 200km race, staying in the lead while Whincup and McLaughlin fell to fourth and 11th, from second and seventh. David Reynolds and Rick Kelly jumped into second and third, but were both passed by Whincup by lap five.

For the rest of the race, two Red Bull Holdens fought for the victory. After the first round of pit stops, Whincup was in front of his teammate. Van Gisbergen made a move for the lead on lap 43, then extending the lead to four seconds when they pitted for the second time.

The Safety Car came out  when Michael Caruso’s Nissan was fired into the tyres on Turn 11 after contact from Anton De Pasquale’s Commodore. On the restart, SVG stayed in front and won the race by 0.7822 seconds.

The next round of the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship is the Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint at Queensland Raceway on July 20-22.

Check the full results of the Watpac Townsville 400

Photos: Supercars,