Sydney Supercars: Van Gisbergen three-stops to victory in season opener

The roll of the strategic dice worked well for van Gisbergen, who easily ran down race-long rivals Anton De Pasquale and Will Brown during his short final stint.

That sealed a perfect start to his title defence, the Kiwi joined on the podium by De Pasquale and a fast-finishing Chaz Mostert. 

Andre Heimgartner was the only driver in the lead group to start on the supersoft compound, however a poor start meant he went backwards, from fourth to sixth, before going forwards.

Once he was going forwards, Heimgartner made rapid progress, working his way into second by lap four before catching and passing early leader De Pasquale on lap eight. 

It was third-placed van Gisbergen who was first of the lead group to pit, taking on another set of softs on lap 20. 

Heimgartner and De Pasquale, at that point split by around four seconds, followed suit on lap 24, Heimgartner switching to the soft as De Pasquale took on supersofts.

As the stops shook out, van Gisbergen took over the lead ahead of a supersofts-shod Will Brown. 

Heimgartner and De Pasquale resumed in fifth and sixth respectively, although De Pasquale - with his supersoft tyres - wasted little time clearing the Kiwi and then David Reynolds to move into third.

He then closed up onto the back of Brown, but couldn't find a way through into second place until lap 42. 

Will Brown, Erebus Holden

Photo by: Edge Photographics

By that stage, van Gisbergen was 12s down the road, however the Kiwi opted to pit on that same lap to take on supersofts, which committed him to a three-stopper.

Brown followed suit two laps later, while De Pasquale stayed out on his supersofts as the race leader until lap 52.

The lead then went back to van Gisbergen, who bolted as he looked to build a big