Young gun Anton De Pasquale has led home a Shell V-Power Racing 1-2 in the opening race of the Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.
It was a thrilling battle to the finish as Repco Supercars Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen hunted down his Ford rivals during the closing stages, but fell short as Will Davison took the runner up slot in his 500th race.
It was De Pasquale’s first victory of the season as he enhanced his title chances.
R&J Batteries-supported Brad Jones Racing driver Andre Heimgartner made the best start out of the first four drivers on the grid, but was boxed in.
The definitive move from De Pasquale occurred at Turn 5 when he went around the outside of his teammate as light contact was made between the two, though it was successful.
Meanwhile, van Gisbergen was unable to find a way through on Heimgartner making several attempts before Jack Smith found the barrier at Turn 5, then David Reynolds was spun by Bryce Fullwood, which forced the Penrite Racing Ford Mustang in for repairs.
The local was penalised 15s post-race.
In a chaotic opening to the race, Will Brown and Chris Pither clashed resulting in both entering pit lane, but in the Boost Mobile Racing driver’s case into retirement.
De Pasquale extended his lead to 1.5s, as van Gisbergen moved through on Heimgartner and immediately demonstrated his pace to be 3.3s clear, as Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert remained a factor behind.
In turn, the reigning Bathurst 1000 winner was first to pit inacting the undercut strategy, which elevated him ahead of Heimgartner.
The two Shell V-Power Racing entries pitted on laps 20 and 21, leaving van Gisbergen in the lead, but a slow stop delayed the Kiwi dropping him down the field.
Scott Pye, rookie teammate Broc Feeney, Heimgartner were all victims of van Gisbergen as he made one of his regular charges.
De Pasquale responded as van Gisbergen made a successful pass into third of Mostert, but a strong defence drive from Davison enabled his teammate to take his eighth victory at the same venue he took his first.
Mostert remained fourth from Heimgartner, Mark Winterbottom in his best finish for the season, Pye, title contender Cameron Waters, Feeney and James Courtney.
Securing the fastest lap bonus points, van Gisbergen holds a 272-point lead with two more races tomorrow as action begins at 8:35am ACST (9:05 AEST) for a pair of qualifying sessions.