Damage limitation for van Gisbergen on Sunday

Sunday at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint was one of damage limitation for Shane van Gisbergen, who was unable to carry over his Saturday winning pace.

Van Gisbergen wasn’t a factor over one lap and in the races on Sunday, finishing fifth and 12th in the two sprints.

The reigning champion qualified ninth and 21st for the two races, and impressively made up 13 spots in two races.

However, it was a far cry to his victory charge on Saturday, and he now heads to Tasmania 136 points from the series lead.

It comes after the Red Bull Ampol Racing star entered Sunday 78 points behind series leader Brodie Kostecki, who finished second and third.

“I thought going into today’s race that finishing in the top 15 after qualifying 21st would be a good result,” van Gisbergen said.

“It’s quite hard to pass and move through the field and a few people got spun out, but looking at the positives we had limited damage from that race from where we were.

"We’re still third in the championship points but we’ve slipped back a bit.

“And we lost a bit of a gap in the teams’ championship which is a shame from my end, so overall we need to be better.”

Sunday's action was held in the shadow of Erebus Motorsport's protest of the Race 7 result, with van Gisbergen muscling past Kostecki to win.

The Aucklander's win was made official after Race 8, with Erebus' protest thrown out.

Van Gisbergen won all three races in Tasmania last year en route to a record haul of 21 wins in 34 starts.

The 33-year-old still has three wins to his name after nine starts, but is more than a win behind Kostecki.

Van Gisbergen cited inconsistency across both team cars as being a punish for his team.

Broc Feeney won Sunday’s finale from pole, just hours after slumping to 21st in Race 8 qualifying.

"I’ve got some work to do on my side to get better before we get [to Tasmania],” van Gisbergen said.

"There are other teams in the field faster than us and doing a good job.

“Winning races is good but we’re a bit inconsistent with both of our cars on the qualifying end, but that’s part of the fact-finding process with these new cars."

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint on May 19-21.

Tickets for the event are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.