Van Gisbergen reflects on 'horrible points day'
Shane van Gisbergen is already looking past his “horrible points day” at the ARMOR ALL Sydney SuperNight on Sunday.
The series leader finished a lowly 23rd in the rain-affected floodlit Race 25, which was won by teammate Jamie Whincup.
Whincup claimed 100 points for victory and five more for the fastest lap. Van Gisbergen, in 23rd, recorded just 24 points.
The result saw Whincup slash van Gisbergen’s series lead from 418 points to 337 points.
Van Gisbergen lost out from pole position, and fired off after the first Safety Car restart.
A penalty over a Safety Car restart procedure breach was rescinded, but he was handed another penalty over a pit lane infringement.
He was 23rd in the queue when the race was red-flagged, marking his worst classified finish since Tasmania 2018.
"I didn’t do a very good job in the second race today,” he said.
"I made an error at the restart, but we recovered to 10th.
"At the restart I went on the inside line and suffered from both cold tyres and as soon as I braked, I knew I was in trouble.
"I thought I was going off, put it in first, tried dropping the clutch to turn the car and luckily there was a bit of gravel, so I stayed out of the fence."
Van Gisbergen won Saturday night's race in a canter, and raced to second behind Anton De Pasquale in Sunday's first race.
His Race 25 struggles saw Will Davison come to 28 points of his Beaurepaires Sydney Cup lead.
Five more drivers - De Pasquale, Nick Percat, Whincup, Will Brown and Chaz Mostert - are within a race win of van Gisbergen's points tally.
"We had good pace, good management, and good strategy but then unfortunately had a pit stop error which put us to the back,” van Gisbergen continued.
"I thought the last Safety Car might have given us a chance to make up a few more spots, but then they obviously canned the race.
"It was a horrible points day, but you get that sometimes. Our aim is to try and eliminate that next week."
The 2021 Repco Supercars Championship will resume this weekend at the BP Ultimate Sydney SuperSprint.
Every session of the event will be broadcast live on Foxtel (Fox Sports 506) and streamed on Kayo.
The Seven Network will showcase highlights of the event.
Tickets for the event are on sale now.
