Van Gisbergen praises repair effort after crash 'panic'

Race 3 winner Shane van Gisbergen has praised his Red Bull Ampol Racing mechanics for turning around the repairs to his car in quick time.

Van Gisbergen cruised to victory in the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint opener, just hours after crashing in Practice 1.

The #97 Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet Camaro picked up front and rear damage in a high-speed incident.

Such was the damage, that van Gisbergen was forced on the sidelines for Practice 2, leading to a frantic rush to get out for qualifying.

That he did, van Gisbergen qualifying third for Race 3 before scoring pole — his first of 2023 — for Friday’s race.

Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup initially feared van Gisbergen had suffered a more significant accident after hearing the driver's initial radio message.

“He just dropped a wheel coming out of Turn 7 – did a good job actually to keep it pirouetting down the road," Whincup said.

"He came on the radio and said ‘I’ve had a big crash’, but I expected a lot worse than actually what it was.

Career win No. 77 for van Gisbergen

“The guys are here to push hard, find the limits… practice is what it’s all about, so we’ll repair the car and get back out there for the next one.”

Come Race 3, and van Gisbergen passed Anton De Pasquale on lap 3 to pave the way to victory No. 2 of the year.

Van Gisbergen has crossed the line first in all three races this season, having won Race 2 at the Thrifty Newcastle 500.

He was disqualified from Race 1 in Newcastle over a technical breach, with the disqualification made official after Triple Eight's appeal was dismissed.

"Thanks to my team, Red Bull Ampol Racing,” he said.

“After what I did to the car this morning, tried to write the thing off.

“To fix it it up like they did, then two good qualis and a race win, I’m stoked.”

On the crash, van Gisbergen said: “I didn’t think it was too bad, I didn’t hit the wall hard.

“Then we got back and the front was destroyed. Normally with the old car, you would’ve made it out for Practice 2.

“It was a bit of a panic — ‘Are we were going to make it out for quali, are we not, what’s it going to feel like?'

“For the guys to take their time, make sure it was right, really cool.”

Van Gisbergen is 105 points behind championship leader Chaz Mostert heading into Friday.

Cars will return to the track for the 15-lap Race 3 at 2:55pm local time on Friday.