Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen tasted victory for the second weekend in a row as he claimed the third round of the Blancpain Endurance Cup at the Circuit Paul Ricard 1000km event.
van Gisbergen's #58 Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3, shared with Rob Bell and Côme Ledogar, started from fifth on the grid. From there, they simply hung with the leaders. It was only with two hours left in the race, van Gisbergen at the wheel, that the team started to show their hand.
They had raced their way to second behind the leading Bentley, and were in the thick of a battle with the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3.
But a slick pit stop while under full-course caution saw van Gisbergen leapfrog the Bentley and Ferrari to take the lead out from under their noses. From there, he held on in the dark to defeat a fast-closing Ferrari challenge and grab the #58 McLaren's second victory of the year.
The Kiwi won at Hidden Valley Raceway last week in his Red Bull Racing Australia Holden in the V8 Supercars series.
