V8 Supercars Newcastle 500 Results

For the third consecutive year, Shane van Gisbergen proved why he is the king of the Supercars season opener, defying skeptics with an impressive performance on the streets of Newcastle. The Kiwi driver went from sixth on the grid to take an early lead in the 2023 championship battle, finishing ahead of teammate Broc Feeney and Tickford’s title challenger Cam Waters.

Despite expectations that the Gen3 era would bring an end to Triple Eight’s Supercars dominance, van Gisbergen made it 16 wins in the past 18 season openers for the team. This continues a trend of early dominance by the established Supercars yardstick, with van Gisbergen’s 14.583s gap to Feeney being the largest in seven starts at Newcastle, surpassing his own mark from 2019.

Van Gisbergen started his title defense on the third row of the grid after a lock-up at turn two hindered his hopes of pole position in the Top Ten Shootout. However, he has always done his best work during the race, and this was evident on Saturday when he quickly rose to fourth place before engaging in a thrilling battle with the Monster Mustang of Waters.

On Friday, Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup suggested that teams would roll out with “radical” race strategies for the Gen3 opener. It was the reigning champion team that took the early gamble, choosing to pit van Gisbergen and run him on less fuel. A lighter, faster van Gisbergen was released at the front of the field and opened up a sizable gap over the chasing pack.

Pole sitter Brodie Kostecki looked set to break his Supercars duck after leading comfortably through the first 30-odd laps of the race. However, Erebus got their pit stop slightly wrong, and the West Australian came out behind both Waters and Feeney, leaving the Coca Cola Camaro to play catch-up.

At the second set of pit stops around the 50-lap mark, Feeney pipped Waters at pit exit to move into second place, giving Triple Eight a one-two run home. Meanwhile, Kostecki ultimately finished fifth, having been passed on lap 80 by Chaz Mostert down the straight. The Walkinshaw Andretti Mustang went on to finish fourth, recording the fastest lap in the process.

Saturday’s race marked just the third time a pole sitter in Newcastle did not go on to win and the first since Scott McLaughlin did so from third in 2018. It was still a fruitful day for the Erebus team, which showed it could be a genuine force in 2023 after Will Brown came home in sixth place.

However, the day ultimately belonged to Triple Eight, who made it three Newcastle wins on the trot with van Gisbergen’s victory dating back to the 2019 double with him and Whincup. In contrast, it was a disastrous day for the Ford flagship team at Dick Johnson Racing, with neither driver cracking the top 10.

The action from Newcastle continues on Sunday, with qualifying from 11.15am AEDT.