Van Gisbergen denies Courtney in Perth finale

Shane van Gisbergen has denied James Courtney a first win in six years in Race 12.

Van Gisbergen overhauled Courtney with six laps remaining to score win No. 8 of 2022.

Courtney played himself into contention with an early stop, but was unable to deny the championship leader.

Will Davison, who won Sunday's earlier race, rounded out the podium.

"I've never done a burnout here before, I hope everyone liked that," van Gisbergen said.

"What an awesome weekend, thanks to the team so much, the car's been brilliant.

"That race was pretty funny, I didn't realise James was the leader, I thought it was Will and I.

"I took off after James, so sorry for stealing that one from him.

"It was awesome good battle with Will and also with James."

Davison beat pole-sitter van Gisbergen off the line, with David Reynolds launching from fourth to second.

Reynolds’ time in second last all of six corners before he locked up, handing second to van Gisbergen.

From there, Davison and van Gisbergen set the pace; after 12 laps, Reynolds was 4.2s behind.

Down the order, Mark Winterbottom was penalised after sending Thomas Randle into a spin at Turn 5.

Davison resisted van Gisbergen's challenge and eked the lead to 0.9s.

Down the order, Courtney was brought in by Tickford Racing in an aggressive undercut attempt.

Lap after lap, the front-runners stopped; Courtney’s undercut helped him in front of Reynolds, Will Brown, Cam Waters and Brodie Kostecki.

Van Gisbergen launched a second attack on lap 25, and brought the margin down to 0.4s.

He was brought in at the end of the lap; Davison stopped on the following lap.

The undercut worked for Courtney, with Davison emerging just behind the #5 Ford.

Van Gisbergen overhauled Davison on lap 29, but the latter forced to #97 to race defensively.

It allowed Courtney to open up a two-second lead, with Davison shadowing van Gisbergen.

Van Gisbergen halved the margin with eight laps remaining, with Davison still within a second of the #97.

Courtney was caught by van Gisbergen on lap 40, and the points leader fought past into Turn 7.

It came as Garry Jacobson’s car ground to a halt at Turn 4, triggering the Safety Car.

The race restarted with two laps to go, but van Gisbergen held firm to score career win No. 62.

Such was van Gisbergen’s pace, that he set the fastest lap after the restart.

Courtney held onto second ahead of Davison, securing his first podium since Sydney last November.

Yellow flags flew late on after Jake Kostecki was beached at Turn 7 after contact with cousin Brodie.

Van Gisbergen extended his championship lead to 164 points over De Pasquale.

The teams' championship margin between Red Bull Ampol Racing and the Shell V-Power Racing Team is 13 points.

The season will resume at Winton Motor Raceway later this month.