The View From the Couch

Huge kudos to Shane Van Gisbergen for his effort at Sydney Motorsport Park.

He could have resorted to a bump-and-run move on Scott McLaughlin in the dying laps of Race 7 of the 2020 championship, but resisted the temptation.

Second place was one worse than he wanted, but it was a fantastic resumption of their personal battle and proof that the disrupted COVIC season will be a cracker.

What else emerged from Sydney Motorsport Park:

• The top three finishers – McLaughlin, van Gisbergen, Whincup – all took four fresh tyres at their pitstop
• Whincup was using the new steering wheel he had previously trialled, with the top of the rim removed
• 107 days away made no difference at the top end of town, with Chaz Mostert also resuming as ‘best of the rest’
• James Courtney bungled in qualifying but picked up plenty of places in his first start with the Boost Mustang
• Alex Davison blamed Courtney for the front-suspension failure on his hand-me-down Commodore that put him out of the race.
• Anton de Pasquale comprehensively out-performed his team mate David Reynolds as McLaughlin did the same to Fabian Coulthard
• The race start was used to announce a fresh five-year broadcast deal with Sky Sport in New Zealand

What to watch in the Sunday sprints:

• How the cars line up without the Top 15 shootout
• Which drivers rebound best from today – van Gisbergen, Whincup and Reynolds are worth watching
• Pitstop tactics as teams assess the benefits of the preferred ‘loaded side’ switch on Saturday against the four-tyre stops of the front runners
• The tyre game – who has enough quality tyres, how they are deployed, timing of stops

Race 7 Result