Motorsport: Perfect Supercars start for Shane van Gisbergen

Shane van Gisbergen had the perfect start to the Supercars season in Adelaide. Photo / Getty Images

Shane van Gisbergen made it a perfect start to the 2018 Supercars season by winning both races at the Adelaide 500 for the second year running.

The 2016 series champion took a dominant win on Saturday but was forced to work much harder in a dramatic race on Sunday.

The Kiwi took the chequered flag just ahead of Erebus Racing's David Reynolds and veteran Holden driver Garth Tander.

Reynolds and Tander both made ground during their second stints and the former actually jumped the Kiwi after his final stop. Van Gisbergen made the crucial pass moments later. Surprisingly Reynolds didn't fight too hard although he and van Gisbergen have plenty of history of coming together.

"Man I love Adelaide," a delighted van Gisbergen said. "That was just awesome.

"Such a shame for Jamie – he had a really dominant car. We went the wrong way with our set up there and had to battle it out there. Davey was really quick there and I expected him to battle me back there.

"Great way to start the year."

Reigning series champion Jamie Whincup, who started alongside van Gisbergen on the front row, made the better start and led through the opening third of the race. But with a handy gap back to second his ZB Holden's transmission let go in a major way and he crept back to the garage. It ended an incredible run of 136 Supercars races without a DNF.

He wasn't the only contender to have drama.

Scott McLaughlin suffered a puncture – he eventually fought back to 10th. Ford driver Mark Winterbottom was given a drive-thru penalty for overuse of the curbs while fourth.

Kiwi Richie Stanaway got a drive-thru penalty for an unsafe release while a mechanical failure spoiled a good result for Andre Heimgartner. Shell V-Power's Fabian Coulthard finished 16th in a weekend where he struggled to find pace.

The series moves to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix at the end of the month.

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