The Bend has produced a twist to the Supercars championship race.
Holden's Shane van Gisbergen has snatched the series lead from Ford's Scott McLaughlin after pole-sitter Jamie Whincup won Sunday's 200km race at the maiden Supercars round at Tailem Bend, an hour's drive from Adelaide.
Seven-time series champion Whincup took out The Bend SuperSprint's 41-lap Sunday finale, more than 11 seconds ahead of van Gisbergen, with Holden's Dave Reynolds third.
But Whincup's teammate van Gisbergen was the big mover on the tough 18-turn 4.95km track, taking a 19-point series lead after leapfrogging McLaughlin, who finished a distant 10th on Sunday.
McLaughlin had a slim 41-point advantage before Sunday's race, which was watched by 17,100 fans, extending overall attendance to 41,250 for the debut three-day round.
Van Gisbergen had already whittled away the lead from fellow Kiwi McLaughlin, who started the round with an 89-point advantage, by winning Saturday's 120km race.
McLaughlin was sixth in the opening race.
The stage is now set for van Gisbergen to make even more gains, with Supercars moving into the high-stakes three enduro rounds, starting with the Sandown 500 next month.
Asked if he had dealt a psychological blow on McLaughlin in the title race, van Gisbergen said: "You'd have to ask him. I don't worry about that.
"For us it is just great to see progress for the team. We have momentum, we just have to make sure we don't lose focus."
Van Gisbergen has won four of the past six races on the Supercars calendar and has been on 10 of the past 11 podiums.
In worrying sign, McLaughlin finished 35 seconds behind van Gisbergen on Sunday but vowed not to give up the championship fight.
"We tried every trick in our book this weekend and unfortunately we just didn't get there," McLaughlin said.
"We'll regroup, work hard and push on."
Defending series champion Whincup claimed his fourth win of the year - and 112th of his glittering career - to remain at third in the championship 362 points behind his teammate.
His last win was in Townsville in early July.
Whincup was never threatened in Sunday's race, only relinquishing the lead when he took a second pit stop after 23 laps and came out of the garage in second behind Ford's Mark Winterbottom.
But normal service resumed when Winterbottom pitted after lap 30.
The Bend wreaked havoc in practice and qualifying as drivers slid off arguably the calendar's most technical course but Sunday's race, remarkably, didn't feature a safety car.
Three drivers in the 28-strong field failed to finish Sunday's race.
Share
