Sandown Supercars: Van Gisbergen wins tense finale

The race got off to a wild start as van Gisbergen and Davison battled for the lead of the race.

Starting from pole, Davison was under fire from van Gisbergen from the word go. On just the second lap the Kiwi got next to the Shell Ford up the back straight, Davison only retaining the lead as he had the racing line into Dandenong Road.

Van Gisbergen then crept up the inside of Davison at the last corner, Davison copping teammate Anton De Pasquale up his rear-left guard as he was baulked.

The subsequent damage took De Pasquale out of contention, however Davison was able to continue in second with nothing more than a rubbing rear guard.

He almost got a crack at reclaiming the lead on the very next lap when van Gisbergen ran slightly wide at Turn 4, although the Red Bull Holden driver was able to hold on.

The pair then spent the first stint separated by less than a second until van Gisbergen took his mandatory stop on Lap 17.

Davison took over the lead, opting for the overcut strategy usually favoured by van Gisbergen and Triple Eight.

He didn't make his stop until Lap 23, resuming behind van Gisbergen and just in front of an early-stopping Chaz Mostert.

After a brief challenge from Mostert, Davison was able to set about eating into van Gisbergen's 2.5-second lead with his superior rubber.

The Shell Ford driver wasn't quite quick enough, though, van Gisbergen managing the gap expertly as he took his second win of the day by four-tenths.

Van Gisbergen now holds a 500-point series lead.

"It was pretty cool in those first few laps, what a battle," said van Gisbergen. "It's a shame Anton got damaged and we couldn't all fight it out.

"[Davison] has been very fast this weekend and I was following him yesterday and he was driving really well.

"That race, I knew I had to get him at the start so I put him under maximum pressure. At the end I could see him coming, I just tried to go as hard as I could. I didn't look in the mirror, just tried to keep pushing. It was awesome."

The early stop ultimately proved costly for Mostert who found himself under fire from Cam Waters as the second stint wore on.

Waters then took himself out of contention for the podium when he fired off the track at Dandenong Road while trying to get past Mostert.

That opened the door for Broc Feeney to hunt down Mostert, the rookie scoring a second career podium and first since Tasmania back in March.

Mostert finished fourth ahead of Mark Winterbottom, Tim Slade and Scott Pye.

Thomas Randle and David Reynolds were next as Waters recovered for 10th.

The 2022 Supercars season continues early next month in New Zealand.

Sandown SuperSprint Race 3 results

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Gap	Interval	Points
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB
2	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT
3	88	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB
4	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB
5	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB
6	3	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT
7	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB
8	55	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT
9	26	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT
10	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT
11	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB
12	5	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT
13	8	Andre Heimgartner	Holden Commodore ZB
14	14	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB
15	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB
16	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB
17	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB
18	10	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT
19	31	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB
20	56	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT
21	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB
22	2	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB
23	11	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT
24	35	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB
	34	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB
View full results