Reigning Repco Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen has taken the opening race victory at Albert Park to close in on title leader Chaz Mostert.
A fast closing Brodie Kostecki failed to distract van Gisbergen from taking victory as it was double delight for Coca-Cola Racing by Erebus as Will Brown rounded out the podium.
Starting third, van Gisbergen made steady progress as he dispatched Kostecki at Turn 6 after he challenged leader Anton De Pasquale through Turns 3 and 4.
It only took half a lap at Turn 3 for the New Zealand ace to take the lead as he passed De Pasquale and cleared away.
Behind, Kostecki and Brown moved behind as De Pasquale dropped to sixth by the chequered flag behind not only the second Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro of Broc Feeney, but Mostert’s Optus Mobil 1 Racing Mustang.
Monster Energy Racing’s Cam Waters was unable to make significant ground in seventh as he held off a determined Jack Le Brocq for Truck Assist Racing.
James Courtney in the Snowy River Racing Mustang was ninth ahead of Macauley Jones for his first top 10 finish of the season in the Pizza Hut Racing Camaro.
A superb job by the Red Bull Ampol Racing team enabled van Gisbergen to qualify and race after a high speed incident during practice.
While PremiAir Racing also had a job on its hands repairing Tim Slade’s Camaro as rival teams Grove Racing and Brad Jones Racing helped to fix the entry. Slade made the race, starting from pit lane to finish 20th.
Nick Percat, Scott Pye, Andre Heimgartner, David Reynolds, Mark Winterbottom and James Golding all finished outside the top 10.
Just one race is on the schedule tomorrow at the Formula 1 Rolex Grand Prix for the Repco Supercars Championship, which is set to start at 2:50pm AEDT.