The Kiwi was earlier frustrated with himself after losing control of his Camaro and spinning almost 900 degrees during the opening practice session.
He was forced to sit out practice two as the team scurried to refit a broken rear wing, but he shrugged off the internal disappointment to clock a pair of quick qualifying times and take the first Melbourne checkered flag of the Gen3 era.
“Again, thanks to my team at Red Bull Ampol Racing. What I did to the car this morning — I tried to write the thing off — and then to fix it up like they did, [get] two good qualies and then a race win, I’m stoked,” van Gisbergen said.
“I didn’t think [the damage] was that bad, I didn’t hit the wall hard, [but] we got back and the front was destroyed.
“It was a bit of a panic — are we going to make it for quali or not. I told the guys to take their time, make sure it was right and yeah, really cool [to get the win].”
His Thursday victory came in typical fashion; the three-time Supercars champion quickly imposing his will on those in front to wrest the race lead in the early stages before clinically driving clear of the field.
It was not without late drama however, as the race leaders headed to the pits with two laps to go for their mandated stop.
Because the track had previously been declared “wet”, the pit stop required that only two tyres be swapped out and not the usual four.
Red Bull and Erebus capitalised to send their cars out much faster than rivals and it allowed Brown to leapfrog the field and find his way onto the podium.
Pole sitter Anton De Pasquale looked primed for a maiden Gen3 podium before the entry to the pits. Instead, his Shell V-Power Mustang exited in sixth and that’s where he crossed the line.
He still bagged crucial points for the Ford flagship franchise, given its horror start to the season in Newcastle earlier this month.
