» V8s: van Gisbergen wins Clipsal 500 Race 2

A qualifying lockout and a race win on your debut in Holden colours. You couldn’t write a better script for Shane van Gisbergen, who gave a one-fingered salute to his detractors in the most convincing way possible by winning today’s second leg of the Clipsal 500 at Adelaide.

The 23-year-old New Zealander has been the centre of attention – for both the right and wrong reasons – all weekend after opening up on his part in the controversial ‘retirement that wasn’t’ at the end of last season, but also backing that up with plenty of outright pace for his new employer, Tekno Autosports.

The result marked the team’s first win, and the first proper championship race win for a team other than Triple 8 Engineering or Ford Performance Racing since the 2011 Sandown 500 almost 18 months ago.

He once again lost the lead at the start to fellow front-row starter Mark Winterbottom as the 78-lap race got underway, although this time, thankfully, without stalling.

However, that frustration proved short-lived, as van Gisbergen quickly reassumed the lead after passing the Ford driver on the fourth lap of the race at the end of the back straight.

Defending series champion Jamie Whincup took Winterbottom for second place with a copycat move on the following lap, quickly kicking off what would be a race-long battle for the lead with van Gisbergen.

Once again, Whincup opted for an earlier first pit stop, and used his fresher rubber to get ahead of the Kiwi, who pitted five laps later. When the second pit stops came around, the positions were reversed and van Gisbergen took the lead once more.

He began to pull away in the final stint, opening up a lead of over ten seconds before the safety car made its only appearance of the weekend so that marshals could mop up the debris following a heavy accident at Turn 8 for Alex Davison late in the race.

The race restart worked perfectly for van Gisbergen, who skipped away when the green flags waved while Whincup, team-mate Craig Lowndes and series veteran Russell Ingall tried to get by David Wall, who was second on the road ahead of them, but a lap behind.

Their delay was enough to give van Gisbergen a quick lead, and once the trio got by Wall, they engaged in a fierce battle for second place in which the two Red Bull Australia team-mates made contact and Ingall briefly skipped into second place.

Once the squabbling had sorted itself out, the chasing trio ran in the order of Whincup, Lowndes and Ingall to the flag, and van Gisbergen had enough of a buffer to ensure victory would be his.

Behind the leading Holden quartet, FPR team-mates Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison finished fifth and sixth, with both losing a shot at victory after each was delayed with sticking wheel nuts in their final pit stops.

In contrast to yesterday’s relatively attrition-light race that saw just four retirements, today’s race was a rather more fraught affair for many runners.

The Erebus AMG team’s tough baptism continued, losing two of its three runners to mechanical dramas.

Despite Rick Kelly giving Nissan its moment in the sun by leading during the mid-race pit stop sequence, the Altimas were also in the wars.

He and his brother Todd were caught out in a late-race fracas triggered by Jason Bright, who tipped Rick into a spin and right into the path of an unsighted Garth Tander, who was clobbered hard by the other Kelly brother.

2013 V8 Supercars Clipsal 500 – Race 2 Final Classification (78 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Shane van Gisbergen	VIP Petfoods / Tekno Autosports	1:51:52.4116
2.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 2.2193
3.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 3.8293
4.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 7.0731
5.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 7.3886
6.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 7.9701
7.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 8.9026
8.	Tony D’Alberto	HIFLEX Racing / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 12.5191
9.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 14.3277
10.	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	+ 14.6548
11.	Scott Pye	EKOL Racing / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 18.0410
12.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 18.8045
13.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 19.9581
14.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 53.4477
15.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1 lap
16.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 1 lap
17.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 1 lap
	Not Classified
DNF.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	68 laps
DNF.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	68 laps
DNF.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	68 laps
DNF.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	63 laps
DNF.	Jonny Reid	ADVAM Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	52 laps
DNF.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	32 laps
DNF.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	27 laps
DNF.	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	17 laps
DNF.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	7 laps
DNF.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	6 laps
DNF.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	3 laps