Van Gisbergen extends lead with Race 25 win

Shane van Gisbergen has extended his points lead with a dominant Race 25 victory at Sandown.

Van Gisbergen won from pole in Sunday’s first Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint race.

It was van Gisbergen’s 15th win of 2022, and his fourth in the last five races at Sandown.

The reigning champion will carry a 446-point lead into Sunday afternoon’s finale.

Chaz Mostert shrugged off an engine change to finish second, with Will Brown third.

Brown cleared David Reynolds on lap 33 to claim his first podium of the season.

Will Davison, who started 11th after a qualifying drama, finished down a lowly 15th due to a penalty.

Davison worked his way into the top 10 before he was pinged for a pit lane infringement.

"The car was really good, so much better than yesterday," van Gisbergen said.

"The real test will come this afternoon, when Will is up the front, he was very fast yesterday.

"I can't remember the last time I got through Turn 1 in the lead, I was like, 'Shit, what do I do now?'

"I was a bit lost for the first few laps."

Van Gisbergen cruised into a clear lead through Turn 1, with Mostert and Broc Feeney clearing Cam Waters.

Mostert hounded van Gisbergen in the early laps before the points leader pulled away.

Waters continued to drop back, and had his ears boxed on lap 6 by Reynolds.

All the while, Davison had raced into contention, having qualified 11th due to his electrical issue.

Davison stopped from seventh on lap 12, but copped a penalty due to a pit lane infringement.

The rattle gun was slow on the right rear, and Davison was slapped with a drive-through penalty.

Mostert and Feeney stopped on lap 14; the latter was slow away, and lost several positions.

With pace to burn, van Gisbergen carried on before he was brought in on lap 21.

He emerged in front of Mostert and Reynolds, who benefited from Feeney’s issue.

Andre Heimgartner, meanwhile, jumped Waters in the lane, with De Pasquale and James Golding joining the fight.

Van Gisbergen enjoyed a 1.5s margin over Mostert, but was armed with seven-lap younger tyres.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver blew the lead out to six seconds, with Brown edging away from Reynolds.

The winning margin was 7.5s, van Gisbergen scoring career victory No. 69.

Triple Eight has now won 12 of the last 14 races at Sandown dating back to 2011.

Brown was 4.4s behind Mostert, with Reynolds 1.9s behind the Erebus Commodore.

Brown's last podium came in Sydney some nine months ago.

Scott Pye was fifth ahead of Heimgartner and Waters, with De Pasquale, Golding and Feeney rounding out the top 10.

The Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint will conclude with Race 26 at 4:20pm local time.