Kiwi fights disqualification
Shane van Gisbergen left the first round of the 2023 Supercars championship with one victory to his name, but he hopes it will soon be two as he waits on an appeal over his disqualification from the opening race of the season.
The Kiwi driver thought he had got his title defence off to a perfect start after taking the chequered flag ahead of his Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Broc Feeney in the first race at Newcastle over the weekend.
His delight turned to frustration when the three-time champion was stripped of the win after rivals protested the use of dry ice in the cooling system of the Red Bull cars.
It meant victory in the New South Wales town was awarded to Cam Waters, who had crossed the finish line in third. However, Red Bull swiftly launched a counterprotest.
Van Gisbergen put any disappointment about the decision behind him as he clinched victory in race two on March 12 after starting fifth on the grid. He took the win ahead of Chaz Mostert, with David Reynolds a distant third.
“Yesterday was tough and obviously we'll fight it, but the team knuckled down and did a good job,” he said afterwards.
“I'll just repeat what I said on track – thanks to my team, our cars were awesome and all our talking was done on the track today.”
Mostert’s two podium finishes leave him top of the drivers’ championship, subject to the Red Bull appeal, and he has a 45-point lead over his closest rival. Van Gisbergen is equal 10th.
The controversial start to the campaign came after Motorsport Australia officials investigated protests from two teams that the driver cooling systems in the Red Bull cars were not correctly placed within the cockpit.
Those protests were upheld because the cooling systems in the cars were to the right of the driver and packed with dry ice, instead of on the passenger side as per the rules.
The cooling boxes were put in the correct area for race two.
Van Gisbergen will now await the result of his protest as the drivers prepare for round two of the campaign at Melbourne's Albert Park on March 30-April 2.
Drivers’ standings
1. Chaz Mostert, 276 points
2. Brodie Kostecki, 231pts
3. Cameron Waters, 219pts
=4. Andre Heimgartner, 207pts
=4. David Reynolds, 207pts
Also: =10. Shane van Gisbergen 150pts
