Shane van Gisbergen wins in Newcastle as Scott McLaughlin runs out of fuel

Shane Van Gisbergen was looking to win his second Supercars title this weekend.

Shane van Gisbergen won an incredible race over Scott McLaughlin at the Newcastle 500 on Saturday with Scott McLaughlin running out of fuel on the last lap.

It looked as if McLaughlin had done enough to win the race and edge closer to winning this year's title as he had a six-second lead over van Gisbergen with a few laps to go.

But around the last few corners of the final lap McLaughlin significantly slow and at the hairpin van Gisbergen was past him.

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Scott McLaughlin is out to make amends for last year's disaster Newcastle.

McLaughlin's Ford only just made it over the finish line and had to park up his car on the track and walk back to the pits. 

Instead, van Gisbergen is just two points behind McLaughlin and the equation is simple for Sunday's race. Whoever is the first across the finish line is the champion.

This could not get any bigger for Sunday, or more gripping.

Red Bull Racing had a front row lockout on the starting grid, with the McLaughlin and Coulthard on the second row.

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It has been a tense weekend for Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen. Image note: This photo is multiple exposures combined into a single image. It is altered post-production.

From the start Whincup got into the lead, with van Gisbergen second, while Coulthard was third and McLaughlin fourth.

Team orders soon came into play, with Whincup and Coulthard letting their respective team-mates overtake them.

Whincup drove at a pace to allow van Gisbergen build a lead, while managing to stop McLaughlin getting past and by lap six van Gisbergen already had a two and a half second lead over McLaughlin.

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Shane Van Gisbergen enjoyed it when Homebush was the final round of the season, but Newcastle is a better place for spectators.

The DJR Penske team played the tactic of bringing Coulthard in for a quick stop and on lap 17 Whincup came in for fuel, but van Gisbergen had a six-second lead ahead of McLaughlin by then.

Drama happened on lap 23 when Whincup tried to pass Coulthard. He got ahead, but Coulthard had momentum for the next corner and the cars clashed, putting Whincup into the tyre wall.

A lap later McLaughlin was in the pits and a further lap after van Gisbergen was in.

When they were back out McLaughlin was right behind, having taken on less fuel and gave his rival a few nudges trying to get past.

On lap 41 Coulthard was out with a big crash on turn one, Nick Percat hit the Kiwi, ripping the side off his car, then Tim Blanchard smashed into the side. 

The leaders came in for more fuel and with the yellow flag still out, van Gisbergen dived in for another splash, while Craig Lowndes had a crash in pit lane with Scott Pye.

At the restart, with 49 laps to go, McLaughlin was second and van Gisbergen seventh. 

Ten laps later, McLaughlin was in the lead and van Gisbergen fourth and it was clear both drivers were trying to make it to the finish without taking on more fuel.

With 33 laps to go Chaz Mostert then put his car into the wall, to push van Gisbergen up to third.

Pye came in for fuel with 19 laps to go to advance van Gisbergen to second, but with a six-second gap between him and McLaughlin.

That gap came down over the last few laps McLaughlin as his comfortable lead evaporated, just like the remaining fuel in his tank.

It's van Gisbergen's eighth win of the season and a crucial one. But while he may have won the battle in this race, the war will be decided on Sunday.