Red Bull Racing team’s Shane van Gisbergen wasn’t too concerned post-race whether he received points for his victory in an accident-marred race 3 of the Supercars Championship at Symmons Plains.
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Van Gisbergen, teammate Jamie Whincup and Team Vortex’s Craig Lowndes were awarded places and points in a Triple Eight whitewash following the dramatic 12-car pile up on the second lap that led to the race suspension.
“I’m not to sure what the official word is on points but first and foremost it was great to see that everyone was relatively OK,” van Gisbergen said post-race.
“It wasn’t a nice situation to see the replays while we were sitting on the grid. I followed Chaz Mostert up to the hairpin on the first lap so only one car and with the sunlight and the spray I couldn’t see anything so things further back would have been pretty tough.
“It was probably unavoidable what happened and thankfully for us all our cars are straight but it is sad to see everyone with so much work to do before tomorrow but hopefully we can patch up those cars and have the race tomorrow.”
When asked if he was expecting to keep the result and points van Gisbergen said: “It is not on my priority list at the moment.”
Lowndes said it had been “a crazy race”.
“We were sitting on the grid and we didn’t know if it was going to restart or go back a lap – it was a shame it ended up that.”
Whincup thoughts were with his close friend Will Davison who was taken to hospital after the crash for observation.
“I think he is in a bit of pain at the moment from what I hear so hopefully it is not too bad to be honest and we’re hoping he is all good but he might be in a bit of trouble,” he said.
“After this we will go and make sure he is all good – credit to the cars and people who spend a lot of time making them safer after every crash and it is a credit to all that hard work that the cars are safe enough to take a massive hit.
“We’re certainly not up here celebrating that we are 1, 2 and 3 and our thoughts are with all the teams and mechanics that have a lot of work to do not only tonight but in a couple of weeks to get out to Philip Island.”
Supercheap Auto’s Chaz Mostert made great start off the line to take the lead on opening lap of the race while Shell V-Power’s Scott McLaughlin was left stuck on the grid spinning wheels as van Gisbergen slipped through to second.
Mostert went off on turn one leading into lap two avoiding the carnage that unfolded in the massive pile up.
Holdens have won the last 12 Tasmania SuperSprint races but that appeared under threat pre-race after Ford claimed the top spots in qualifying.
McLaughlin claimed his first pole position in Tasmania after a 15-minute qualifying session recording a fastest lap of 57.4178 after a red flag delay caused by Davison beaching his Commodore in the gravel at the hairpin.
It was an all-Ford front row with Supercheap Auto’s Chaz Mostert in another Ford alongside McLaughlin following his lap of 57.8003 with van Gisbergen third in 57.8153 and Dave Reynolds fourth in 57.895.
Van Gisbergen sits on 450 points from Whincup on 342, Mostert 324 and Coulthard on 321 after the drama-filled race.
