Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen has won race one at the Newcastle 500 from pole position, but a mistake from Triple Eight teammate Jamie Whincup has proved costly.
The Holden duo were in prime position on Saturday for a one-two finish and to close the gap in the teams' championship race, but Whincup misjudged a corner with 20 laps to go and dropped from second to seventh.
It allowed DJR Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard to round out the podium and extend their teams' championship lead ahead of Sunday's season- ending race.
The 2019 Supercars champion McLaughlin now looks set to complete the double as DJR Team Penske hold a 143-point lead over Triple Eight.
Van Gisbergen said it was an uncharacteristic error from Whincup but was thrilled to win after only just sneaking into the top 10 shootout earlier in the day.
"Awesome day. Shame about Jamie making a mistake there, that would have been great team points," he said.
"We had a cool start, a good battle, then forced our way through."
There are still 288 points up for grabs on Sunday and McLaughlin warned the teams' title race wasn't won yet, heading into "the last day of school".
"It's tough around here, it's quite hard work," he said.
"Jamie made a mistake there which gifted us a double podium and I'm sure they'll come back stronger tomorrow.
"But a great team result."
Coulthard admitted he was lucky to secure third spot and said the focus was now firmly on winning the teams' championship.
"We were gifted a little bit with Jamie going down the escape road, a pretty rare mistake for him but we'll take it," Coulthard said.
"We want to win that teams pretty bad."
Walkinshaw Andretti United's Scott Pye delivered a sensational performance after starting last (24th) on the grid to finish sixth thanks to clever pit stops.
"I needed to right that wrong from qualifying," Pye said.
"It was an awesome race and I felt good until the end. I gave it absolutely everything until the flag."
AAP
