Van Gisbergen romps to historic Supercars Gen3 win
Shane van Gisbergen put the blow torch on the field to take an historic Supercars win to start the Gen3 era on the streets of Newcastle.
Feeney made it a Red Bull one-two over Waters, who put the #6 Mustang on the podium over Chaz Mostert and pole sitter Brodie Kostecki.
An early short fuel strategy proved the difference, as SVG started his title defence in style, showing strong discipline in the face of the unknown regarding the handling of tyre degradation, for a huge 14 second win.
Despite the expected consensus of street racing Mayhem, there were no yellow flags throughout the 95 laps, and only the one retirement, with Percat having his day ended on lap 54.
Cameron Waters scored a hard-fought podium at Newcastle. Photo: Peter Norton – Epic Sports Photography
Supercars race report: Race1 – Newcastle 500 – 95 laps – 250km
Finally the full grid of Supercar Gen3 Camaro’s and Mustang’s had arrived, with Kostecki heading up Waters on the front row, with Feeney and Slade in behind.
Lights out ended years of talk and uncertainty in the Newcastle bull ring as Kostecki got the first corner with all cars going through clean, and van Gisbergen taking Slade for P4.
An early spin for De Pasquale dropped him to the rear with plenty of ground to cover on Smith.
Lap 10 saw no change in the top ten with plenty of pressure across a tight top three, with SVG close in P4 as the fastest on track.
Fullwood had some body hanging off the right rear pitting on lap 16, as SVG went past Feeney putting Slade on his tail, as Waters suddenly had his hands full with a racey #97.
Lap 20 had Kostecki build a 1.183 split to Waters who was still holding van Gisbergen at bay with an unchanged but slightly spreading top ten.
Broc Feeney gets some air on his way to a Triple Eight 1-2 finish. Image: Peter Norton Epic Sports Photography
The top eight were still out with fuel stops bringing more movement down the field, with the Waters/SVG battle giving Kostecki some breathing room up front, with half the field having pitted.
Hazelwood came out of the pits in front of Kostecki in P24, causing the gap with Waters to close back up, with the #6 Tickford driver then pitting on 31 to put van Gisbergen in P2.
Kostecki also pitted but came out behind Waters and Feeney in a costly pit timing, with the #88 also having taken the early undercut.
Slade’s promising race was ruined with a stuck right front in the pits, with van Gisbergen in the lead after a very short fuel stop, with Waters having taken the same strategy, with Kostecki now in P4 over Reynolds and Mostert.
The #97 was left to drive the wheels off at the head of the field, with Kostecki having a 10 litre fuel advantage (2 litres per second in pits), as SVG quickly took a two second gap and building from Waters.
Mostert put the move on Kostecki to grab a P4 in WAU’s Gen3 Newcastle opener. Image: Peter Norton
The fuel strategy for Kostecki looked like backfiring if he couldn’t pass Feeney into P3, with SVG having built a large enough margin to correct the time split on the future pit.
Lap 54 saw Percat’s race end with brake issues, as van Gisbergen built the lead to 6.7s over Waters, with Feeney also building a clean gap to Kostecki.
The chasing three all pitted with 35 laps to run, with Feeney coming out over Waters and Kostecki, all over a minute in arrears.
SVG pitted in lap 65 for his last fuel stop and green softs on the right hand side, coming out with a handy lead over Feeney, Waters, and Kostecki.
With the top three putting on a big gap, Mostert took the charge to Kostecki, with both drivers 10 seconds from the provisional P3 with 15 laps to run, as the #25 WAU took him after a good battle.
Brodie Kostecki could not convert pole position in the season opener at Newcastle, but it was a strong race for both Erebus Camaro’s. Photo: Peter Norton – Epic Sports Photography
7 laps to run had a clear split with the podiums and top ten almost assured, with SVG over his teammate and Waters, and Mostert heading Kostecki and Brown, making it a strong race for Erebus in a positive clean start.
Heimgartner came in over Winterbottom, Pye, and Courtney, making it a positive start for Team 18.
But it was van Gisbergen with a clinical drive that once again stole the show in an ominous start to his title campaign with 76th Supercars victory, and one that the Kiwi will cherish.
2023 Newcastle 500 Race 1 results
1: Shane van Gisbergen
2: Broc Feeney +14.740
3: Cameron Waters +19.746
4: Chaz Mostert +27.395
5: Brodie Kostecki +33.187
6: Will Brown +37.282
7: Andre Heimgartner +38.233
8: Mark Winterbottom +44.338
9: Scott Pye +50.243
10: James Courtney +1:02.512
11: Jack Le Brocq +1:02.614
12: David Reynolds +1:03.311
13: Will Davison +1:09.519
14: Matthew Payne +1:12.945
15: Declan Fraser +1 Lap
16: Todd Hazelwood +1 Lap
17: Thomas Randle +1 Lap
18: Bryce Fullwood +1 Lap
19: Anton De Pasquale +1 Lap
20: James Golding +1 Lap
21: Macauley Jones + 1 Lap
22: Cameron Hill + 1 Lap
23: Jack Smith + 3 Laps
24: Tim Slade +5 Laps
NC: Nick Percat 50 laps
2023 Newcastle 500 schedule
Friday, March 10
Practice 1 – 1: A. Heimgartner 1:11.9958 2: W. Brown +0.1813 3: D. Reynolds +0.2021
Practice 2 – 1: S. van Gisbergen 1:11.7555 2: W. Davison +0.0374 3: B. Feeney +0.1167
Practice 3 – 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:11.4068; 2 Shane van Gisbergen +0.0557; 3 Chaz Mostert +0.0760
Saturday, March 11
Qualifying 1 – 1: Kostecki 1:11.131. 2: Mostert 1:11.358 3: VanGisbergen 1:11.435
Top 10 Shootout – 1: Kostecki 1:11.8481 2: Waters +0.1520 3: Feeney +0.1527
Race 1 (95 laps) – 1: Van Gisbergen 2: Feeney +14.740 3: Waters +19.746
Sunday, March 12
Qualifying – 11.15-11.35
Top 10 Shootout – 12.35-13.00
Race 2 (95 laps) 15.20-17.20
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