A week after his stunning victory in the Chicago Street Race, Shane van Gisbergen returned to Australia for the two 156-mile Repco Supercars Championship rounds at Townsville, North Queensland.
Suffering steering problems in his Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet Camaro, van Gisbergen qualified fourth for the first race, but was languishing at 25th on the grid for the second 88-lap face.
The New Zealander eventually finished fourth to Will Brown at the wheel of the Coca Cola Camaro after dropping back to 14th after brushing the wall in the opening circuit of the tight 1.78-mile Reid Park track.
On the second day of racing, van Gisbergen stormed through the field from 25th to fourth before relinquishing a place to Broc Feeney on team orders in the final dash to the checkered flag.
The second 156-mile race was claimed by Anton De Pasquale in the Shell V-Power Mustang, the first competitive win by Ford in this year’s championship series.
Van Gisbergen had claimed the Townsville round in 2022, the last year of the traditional (General Motors) Holden vs Ford clash when driving a Holden. Â
With Holden and Ford domestic vehicle production ending in Australia, the Supercars turned to a new Gen 3 rivalry.
As a consequence, this year’s Gen 3 series has pitted Chevrolet Camaros against Ford Mustangs for the prestigious road racing series.
Apart from the opening round at Newcastle, NSW, when Cameron Waters was awarded the victory, the Camaros have dominated the series, leading to claims that the cars have had a technical advantage over their rivals.
After another Chevrolet clean sweep in the previous round at Darwin, NT, Supercars Australia announced a parity review between the Camaro ZL1 and the Ford Mustang GT.
Completed in time for the Townsville round, the review allowed aerodynamic modifications to the rear spoiler and wing of the Fords.
De Pasquale made the most of the changes, suggesting that the remainder of the series will be more competitive between Chevrolet and Ford.
After 17 races, the 34-year-old van Gisbergen is placed fourth in the Supercars series, which he won in 2016, 2021 and 2022. He trails Will Brown, Brodie Kostecki and Broc Feeney.
The Supercars next race in Sydney on July 28-30. All Supercars races are streamed on SPEED SPORT 1 at www.speedsport1.com.