Van Gisbergen wins hostile Tasmania opener

Shane van Gisbergen has regained the points lead with a punchy drive to victory in Tasmania.

Van Gisbergen won the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint opener from fifth on the grid.

With Chaz Mostert 23rd following a late-race incident, van Gisbergen will carry a 17-point lead into Sunday.

Will Davison crossed the line second ahead of pole man Cam Waters, with Brodie Kostecki fourth.

Broc Feeney secured a career-best finish with fifth ahead of Anton De Pasquale, who moved into second overall.

It marked van Gisbergen’s 56th career victory, equalling Scott McLaughlin and Garth Tander.

"What a great race," van Gisbergen said.

"I was rubbing them up a bit, but that's what we're here to do.

"We need to be better tomorrow, but I'm super stoked."

Davison got the better jump off the front row, but ceded second to Kostecki at Turn 2.

Desperate to regain P2, Davison muscled Kostecki down the back straight and fought ahead.

Van Gisbergen hit the rear of Kostecki at Turn 6, with Feeney overtaken by his teammate into Turn 2.

Van Gisbergen’s march continued on; he took third from Kostecki on lap 6, and second from Davison six laps later.

De Pasquale, who started 12th, pitted from 18th on lap 11.

On lap 16, van Gisbergen made light contact with Waters at Turn 4, and made the pass stick into Turn 6.

The contact earned the ire from Waters, who remonstrated to the #97.

Behind them, Davison made his stop; Waters stopped on the following lap, and emerged behind Davison.

Red Bull Ampol Racing reacted and pitted van Gisbergen, who retained his effective race lead.

The margin between van Gisbergen and Davison hovered at 0.9s, with Waters 2.4s behind.

Series leader Mostert stopped on lap 25 and emerged in 15th, with four drivers yet to pit.

Van Gisbergen retained the lead once Bryce Fullwood stopped on lap 31.

With 13 laps remaining, van Gisbergen, Davison, Waters, Kostecki and Pye filled positions one through five.

Meanwhile, De Pasquale cleared David Reynolds for seventh, with Mostert 11th.

Mostert’s fate was sealed when the battle for eighth got ugly; Winterbottom turned Reynolds at Turn 4, leaving Mostert with nowhere to go.

Winterbottom was handed a 15-second penalty for the incident, with Mostert losing three laps in the pits.

Van Gisbergen crossed the line nearly three seconds ahead of Davison, who equalled legendary team boss Dick Johnson's career podiums tally of 65.

Scott Pye, Andre Heimgartner, Lee Holdsworth and Todd Hazelwood rounded out the top 10.

Cars will return to the track on Sunday for dual qualifying sessions from 10:35am AEDT. CLICK HERE to purchase your tickets.

Every session of the event will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506 and streamed on Kayo.

The Seven Network will broadcast highlights on Saturday and Sunday.