Shane van Gisbergen dominates at Bathurst, winning both Supercars races

Shane van Gisbergen has the lead of the 2021 Supercars championship after dominating the opening weekend of the season.

After winning the first race of the year on Saturday, the New Zealand-born driver comfortably took the second race on Sunday afternoon.

Van Gisbergen could not be faulted on Sunday, despite losing the lead to Cameron Waters off the start.

Waters, who finished a disappointing 20th on Saturday, looked to make amends as he led into the first corner.

The opening laps were clean — with only James Courtney needing to retire from the race after sending his car into the barrier at turn three.

Will Davison, who was fourth, was the first of the frontrunners to pit but ultimately lost out.

Once all cars had completed their first stop, Davison had fallen to fifth.

Van Gisbergen, in second, pitted a lap before the leader Waters and was able to complete the undercut.

By the time Waters left the pits, he became a sitting duck for Van Gisbergen who flew past him.

Van Gisbergen then built a four-second lead over the next few laps.

The top five drivers then came in for their mandatory second stops on laps 21 and 22, with van Gisbergen extending his lead again over the chasing pack.

The New Zealander than continued to gradually build his lead until the end.

After the chequered flag, van Gisbergen told his team over the radio he believed his driving between the first and second pit stops was some of the best of his career.

Van Gisbergen told Fox Sports his team’s tactics helped him overcome a poor start to take the win.

“That’s a team win, a strategy win,” he said.

“We had to try and win it in the pit lane and we did.”

Waters finished second while Chaz Mostert, who was second on Saturday, took home third.

Both races this weekend were 40 laps, or 250 kilometres.

It is the first time Mount Panorama has been used for an Australian Touring Car round, other than the Bathurst 1000, since the mid-1990s.