Van Gisbergen recovers to 8th in second race

After the disappointment of a dnf in the first race of the weekend on Saturday, SP Tools-backed Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon driver Shane van Gisbergen made a good recovery in the second ITM 400 race at his 'home' meeting in Hamilton on Sunday, starting 12th and crossing the line eighth.

The result means the 20-year-old Kiwi limited the damage to his points standing in the 2010 V8 Supercar championship points chase.

With 720 points van Gisbergen is now sixth, however he is only three points behind fifth placed Garth Tander (723) and 51 behind fourth placed Lee Holdsworth (771).

Like the first race of the weekend on Saturday, Sunday's 59 lap sprint round the demanding 3.4km downtown Frankton (Hamilton) circuit was won by Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup from former champion Garth Tander (Holden) with Michael Caruso (Holden) third.  

After Saturday's first lap dramas it was a relatively uneventful race for van Gisbergen, who had the big crowd behind him as he chipped away at the cars in front and benefited when both James Courtney and Craig Lowndes struck problems towards the end.

Shane van Gisbergen – Driver, SP Tools Racing Car #9

“It’s been a tough weekend, I was pretty down after yesterday but it was good to turn things around today and finish inside the top ten.

“Qualifying was a drama all weekend, we certainly hope that’s the end of qualifying outside the top ten for the rest of the season.”

The V8 Supercar teams now have just 10 days to return to Australia to prepare for the fifth round of the 2010 V8 Supercar championship series at Ipswich's Queensland International Raceway over the May 01-02 weekend.