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Judicial Vision: Van Gisbergen's costly clash

20 Jun 2017
Onboard footage from three-car Race 11 Hidden Valley tangle released
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Onboard footage from Supercars’ judicial cameras has shed more light on a three-car clash that put an early dent in Shane van Gisbergen’s title defence.

Van Gisbergen fell almost 200 points adrift of the championship lead after an attempted pass on Garth Tander late in Race 11 at Hidden Valley ended in disaster.

Vision at the top of this story from the cars of Van Gisbergen, Tander, Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom details exactly how the tangle unfolded.

Van Gisbergen’s attempted pass on Tander saw contact that slowed both Holdens in the middle of the Turn 6 hairpin, allowing Bright to sneak down the inside.

Further contact then ensued between all three cars as the battled for space on the exit – breaking the Red Bull Commodore's steering.

The incident was investigated post-race by Deputy Race Director Michael Masi, who did not refer it to the stewards on the basis that no driver was wholly or predominately to blame.

The end of a 34-race streak of finishes saw Van Gisbergen become the first driver out of the Red Bull Holden and Shell Ford quartet to chalk up a DNF this year.

“I don't think I was desperate,” he said directly after the race, where he’d already suffered a tyre failure on lap 18 and was battling with Tander for 14th.

“I was calculated with all the passes, but I just got in with Garth Tander and the first hit broke the steering and I couldn't turn.”

See more of the incident in the television footage below.

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Van Gisbergen recovered to finish third in the Sunday race, ensuring he left Hidden Valley 178 points behind championship leader Fabian Coulthard.

Reflecting on his weekend on Sunday night, the Red Bull driver remained perplexed as to why he'd been unable to cure a handling imbalance felt from opening practice.

"The guys did a lot of work overnight to fix the car," he said.

“It was mechanically sound, but still we have some issues there that we have been chasing all weekend.

“We overhauled the car again after the Shootout, but it was good to make the Shootout even though we had so many problems, so we were happy with that.

“In the race we had the same issues and no traction also. The car was still fast, but again, horrible to drive, so to salvage a third was great.

“We had a really good battle at the end there. We had a five-car chain that we were holding out and it was pretty exciting racing.

“We have a lot of work to do to improve, but I'm so happy with how our guys worked this weekend.

“They've never given up and they're always chasing problems and working so hard.”

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