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THE KING OF THE HILL

from SupercarXtra Magazine Issue 129 Special Drivers Edition

from SupercarXtra Magazine Issue 129 Special Drivers Edition, page 60

STORMIN’ NORMAN

Shane van Gisbergen rewrote the record books on his way to his third Supercars championship win in 2022. His achievements in Supercars and across other motorsport categories and disciplines in recent years showcase one of the most naturally-gifted drivers at the peak of his powers.

Shane van Gisbergen’s 2022 Supercars season alone is one for the record books: a third Supercars championship win, second Bathurst 1000 victory and the most race wins in a single season. But it’s his achievements in other categories and disciplines on top of his Supercars results that makes his run of form even more incredible.

Outside of Supercars in 2022, van Gisbergen finished on the podium in the Bathurst 12 Hour; scored race wins in the GT World Challenge Australia; claimed fifth in class on debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans; took a podium in the Australian Rally Championship; and ninth place overall and third in class in his World Rally Championship debut in Rally New Zealand.

The Auckland-born racer’s resume now includes success in Supercars, NASCAR, sportscars, rallying and open-wheelers. But it’s in Supercars where he is the clear leader of the pack, finishing in the top 10 in the championship standings in each season since 2010, across three teams and two manufacturers, with top-three finishes in the last five seasons, with two Bathurst 1000 wins and three championship wins from his seven seasons with Triple Eight Race Engineering.

After impressing in his native New Zealand with a Formula Ford championship win and top-three finishes in the Formula First championship and Toyota Racing Series, an 18-year-old van Gisbergen headed across the Tasman to be thrown in the deep-end with his Supercars championship debut with Team Kiwi Racing at Oran Park Raceway midway through the 2007 season.

He turned heads with the 15th fastest time amongst a 31-car field in the opening practice session. And after a respectable 20th place from 29th on the grid in the opening race, wet weather for the second race allowed his natural talent to shine. Van Gisbergen charged through the field in the treacherous conditions, finishing in 13th place with the fifth fastest lap of the race. A 12th place on the bruising streets of the Gold Coast, one of seven top-15 finishes from his 17 races in 2007, confirmed his potential.

A move to the former championship-winning team Stone Brothers Racing in 2008 saw him score his first podium finish in Supercars and become a regular in the front half of the field, though the team run by brothers Ross and Jim Stone was far from its peak.

After a podium-less season in 2009, van Gisbergen’s breakout season was in 2010. He scored nine podiums for sixth in the championship, establishing himself as the team leader within the Ford outfit.

His first race win came on home soil at the Hamilton street circuit in 2011, in a season in which he improved to fourth place in the championship. But what seemed like a perfect fit with fellow New Zealanders, the Stone brothers, disintegrated over the course of 2012. Van Gisbergen walked away from the team and looked set to take time out from Supercars, with the team on the brink of morphing into Erebus Motorsport for 2013.

After a contentious split from the team and talk of retirement, van Gisbergen resurfaced at Tekno Autosports in 2013, moving into a Holden Commodore for the first time. A win in the season-opening Adelaide 500 set the tone for his three-year stint with Tekno Autosports. Running a customer Triple Eight Race Engineering car, van Gisbergen ended his first season with the team with another win in Sydney with fifth in the championship.

The sight of the yellow and black VIP Petfoodsbacked VF Commodore running at the front of the field became a regular occurrence in 2014, with van Gisbergen climbing to second in the championship with five wins. However, heartbreak at Bathurst with late pitstop drama costing him and team owner Jonathon Webb victory marred an otherwise strong season.

Van Gisbergen dropped to fourth in the championship in 2015, though collected another two wins on the Gold Coast and Sydney, confirming his reputation as a street-circuit master. The latter win in Sydney was in his final appearance for the team, with a move to Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016.

Moving into the factory-backed Holden team pitted van Gisbergen into direct competition with multiple champions Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes. But it was no concern for van Gisbergen with eight wins across the 2016 campaign and a run of 10 consecutive podiums to end the season, including a long-awaited first top-three finish at Bathurst, giving him the championship title in his first time out with the team.

He was unable to defend the title in 2017 with Whincup prevailing over Scott McLaughlin in a tense finale in Newcastle. Consistency was the key in Whincup’s victory, with van Gisbergen scoring one more race win than his teammate but behind in points.

In 2018 and 2019, van Gisbergen and McLaughlin went head-to-head in an all-New Zealand fight for the championship. McLaughlin prevailed in both seasons, though van Gisbergen was the only driver who could push his countryman in the title race, racking up more wins as Holden’s leading driver.

In the COVID-interrupted 2020 season, a retirement in the season opener in Adelaide put van

Gisbergen on the back foot. While McLaughlin raced to his third championship, van Gisbergen finally claimed victory in the Bathurst 1000 alongside Garth Tander. After more than a decade in Supercars, he joined the select few who could lay claim to a championship and Bathurst win.

With McLaughlin heading to IndyCar in 2021, van Gisbergen stepped into his own as the dominator of Supercars. He started the 2021 season with six wins in a row, building a championship buffer that proved insurmountable for his second title. With 14 wins from 31 races, it was his most complete season yet. However, even better was in store for 2022.

A crushing display in 2022 saw van Gisbergen break McLaughlin’s record for most wins in a season, surpassing the mark of 18 with four races still to go. Van Gisbergen won a race at each event except for Darwin. There was an emotional win on home soil at the final Supercars round at Pukekohe Park Raceway, after a three-year absence from racing in New Zealand. Also, a second Bathurst 1000 triumph, once again with Tander, for a near-perfect season.

The natural talent that was evident in his debut in 2007 has been harnessed with experience and the support of the leading team in Supercars.

At present, it’s hard to see how the van GisbergenTriple Eight combination can be stopped, though the move to the Gen3 rules and the Chevrolet Camaro presented a new challenge in 2023.

At 34 years of age, it seems likely van Gisbergen will follow in the footsteps of McLaughlin and make a full-time move into another category outside of Australia after a sensational win on debut in the NASCAR Cup Series on the streets of Chicago – the first rookie winner in the category in 60 years. After dominating Supercars in recent seasons, the NASCAR win put van Gisbergen in the international spotlight.

With three championship wins and two Bathurst 1000 titles, van Gisbergen has done it all in Supercars. How he balances his other racing activities with his Supercars dominance will be fascinating to watch.