It was back in July 2023 that Shane Van Gisbergen notified his team’s management, Red Bull Ampol Racing that he would be accepting a full-time position in the U.S. NASCAR championship for the 2024 season.
It came after a long period of rumours on Gisbergen’s future especially after winning back-to-back championship titles in 2021 and 2022.
It would have been a difficult decision to make and possibly harder to deliver after being with Red Bull Ampol Racing for 7 years plus having his long-term teammate & friend Jamie Whincup now in the roll of “boss” for the team.
Whether this departure from Supercars is permanent or not, I felt that Shane Van Gisbergen’s career is full of so many accomplishments I had to write an article about him.
Shane was born 9th of May 1989 in Auckland, New Zealand.
He made his Supercars debut in 2007 (at the age of 18) with Team Kiwi Racing (TKR) at Oran Park Raceway. He also made his Bathurst 1000 debut in the same year as co-driver to John McIntyre.
In 2008 he earned himself a full-time seat with Stone Brothers Racing and was teammate to already well known driver James Courtney. In this season Gisbergen won his first podium finish at Sandown.
In 2010 the Supercars series kicked off in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. Shane had podium finishes at both venues.
During the 2011 season Gisbergen took his first ever race win on home soil at Hamilton (New Zealand) before getting another win at Darwin. His talents were beginning to shine.
In 2013 he moved from Stone Brothers Racing to Tekno Autosports. He made the team’s investment worthwhile by winning the coveted Clipsal (Adelaide) 500.
In 2014, still with Tekno Autosports he won a further 2 races and also scored his first Bathurst 1000 pole position.
In 2016 he moved to the Red Bull Racing Team and found his home with the new crew and teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
He started the year winning the Bathurst 12 hour driving for McLaren. He followed up with exceptional performances throughout the year and earned his first Supercars Season title.
In 2017 he started his title defence in good form by winning the first 2 races. However, regardless of how good you are it is hard to challenge a legend (and teammate) like Jamie Whincup who went on to win his 7th season title that year. Also in the mix was the rising star, Scott McLaughlin.
In 2018 he was runner up again. This time to Scott Mclaughlin who was now hitting his stride.
In 2019 he was runner up to Scott McLaughlin in the Bathurst 1000.
In the following year 2020, Shane Van Gisbergen was determined and took his first Bathurst 1000 win. This is the dream of all race drivers on an international level.
In 2021 he started the year with a broken left collarbone but still managed to win the majority of the races and resulted in his 2nd Championship title.
In the following year of 2022 Shane Van Gisbergen dominated the season with 21 race wins. It earned him a back-to-back title and his 3rd title for his career.
He started the 2023 season badly, being disqualified in the first race for having the cool suit dry ice box on the wrong side of the car. His teammate Broc Feeney was also disqualified for the same reason. It seemed an awfully petty reason to be taken out of the running as it would have not given them any advantage over other drivers.
Gisbergen pushed on and did well throughout the season. Even no points for the first race he was within reach of the title entering the last event for the year. However, bad luck struck again in the last event where he received a DNF (Did Not Finish) in both races. It gave Brodie Kostecki a clear win for the year. It really must have been heartbreaking to be so close to winning a 3rd title in a row (and his 4th overall)
During his Supercars career Shane Van Gisbergen has competed in other highly regards races like the Daytona, 24-Hour Spa and the Le Mans 24 Hour. He has also been over to the USA and competed in a NASCAR race at Chicago where he took the winning place and followed up with another attempt in Indianapolis.
In 2014 Gisbergen also competed and took the title in the New Zealand Highlands 101.
He did the same in the New Zealand Grand Prix in 2021.
After 16 years of racing in Supercars Shane Van Gisbergen has had 508 race starts, 81 wins, 176 podiums and 48 pole positions. He has taken 3 championships titles and 3 Bathurst 1000 wins.
Now (2024) he will be racing fulltime in the Nascar Cup series and Xfinity Nascar series.
Shane Van Gisbergen! Thanks for all the Supercars memories. You will be missed on the track in Australia.
Best of luck in your NASCAR adventure. Go show them what real legends are made of!
On the 4th to 6th March was the Beaurepairs Sydney Supernight. It was the first event the 2022 Supercars Championship. It’s great to see the Supercars back. Lets hope we don’t get a repeat of last year and there are no Covid interruptions to the events calendar.
It was great to see Riana Crehan returning the Fox broadcast as pit lane reporter. She spent last year working in Super Bikes. Charli Robinson hands back the mic after filling in for her. It is a shame to see Charli leave. Both women are great reporters. I wish we could have them both at Fox.
Mark Winterbottom’s slipped past a personal milestone. This weekend was his 561st and 562nd race in Supercars.
Nathan Prendagast head of TV at Supercars is leaving in June to take skill set to an international level. He has been with Supercars for 18 years and has only missed 3 events in that time. A sure sign of his dedication.
Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Qualifying and the Top Ten Shootout.
In race 1 Anton de Pasquale started on pole position alongside him was defending champion, Shane Van Gisbergen.
Anton de Pasquale led into turn 1. Shane Van Gisbergen hot on his tail tried to get up the inside between turns 2 and 3 but couldn’t manage to find the space.
David Reynolds ran wide onto the grass between turns 4 and 5. The cars further back in the pack were trying to keep up with the leaders.
On lap 8 Scott Pye had another power steering drama like he had in the last race for 2021 at Bathurst. He was able to drive back to the pits but moments after pulling up the car caught FIRE! Scott Pye jumped out of the car so quick. If he had been that fast at the start line he would be in the lead. LOL. But truly, glad no one was hurt. Unfortunately, he was out of the race. The only one to receive an NC (Not Complete).
Meanwhile in the middle of the pack drivers were still battling for position. Thomas Randle found the space to get down the inside of car 56 driven by Jake Kostecki. Cameron Waters also found the opportunity to pass Nick Percat.
In the early stages Shane Van Gisbergen was running 2nd to Pasquale. He was on a 3 stop strategy compared to everybody else who did the 2 mandatory stops. By the middle of the race he picked the right time to pass Anton de Pasquale for the lead.
With every lap Shane Van Gisbergen seemed to be edging further ahead. He was looking strong and confident. It seemed if he could make it to the end of the race without error he was sure to win.
The defending champion held his place and continued to increase his lead. It was soon obvious he was out of reach from other drivers.
In spectacular form he continued to increase the gap from the others. By the time he crossed the finish line he nearly had a 20 second lead. It was an incredible win for him.
Next across the line was Anton de Pasquale followed by the other fast driver on the day, Chaz Mostert.
Results for Race 1
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing. 2nd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team. 3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
For the second race of the weekend, Chaz Mostert was fastest in the Qualifying session which meant he was on provisional pole position. That is to say, he had the advantage to be the last driver for the Top 10 Shootout.
However, it was Brodie Kostecki who earned pole position for Race 2. His maiden pole in Supercars. Alongside him was Anton de Pasquale.
Shane Van Gisbergen was 21st on the grid due to getting held up by other cars in Qualifying.
At the start of the race Anton de Pasquale lead the opening laps with Brodie Kostecki right behind him.
The cars further back in the pack were jostling for position. Chaz Mostert had gained 2 places, 7th to 5th and Shane Van Gisbergen went from 21st to 15th.
While Shane Van Gisbergen was aggressively marching forward, he ran wide and left the track. He didn’t realise until later that he had a puncture. The tyre change cost him valuable time. On return from the pits he was 1.6 laps down. A big blow for the defending champ.
By the middle of the race Chaz Mostert was affectively the leader after moving up from 5th to 1st with 3 cars in front who were still yet to pit.
The speed that Chaz Mostert showed at end of last season to win the Bathurst 1000 was still there. From the moment he had the lead to the end of the race he held position to the finish line. He was over 3 seconds ahead of Brodie Kostecki, followed by Anton de Pasquale.
Defending champion, Shane Van Gisbergen who was 1.6 laps down in the early stages, made an amazing recovery to finish 6th! OMG!
Results for Race 2
1st Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United. 2nd Brodie Kostecki – Boost Mobile Racing. 3rd Anton de Pasquale – Shell V-Power Racing Team.
Chaz Mostert is now the championship leader by 12 points. The first time in his career to earn the right to display the orange (leader) numbers on his car. Congratulations!
The next event is the Ned Whiskey Tasmania Supersprint on March 25th to the 27th 2022.
if you enjoyed reading my article you might be interested in my vlogs on Youtube.
On the week from November 30th to December 5th, 2021 was the 61st running of The Bathurst 1000. It was the final race for the year and the biggest race of the year. The Bathurst 1000 is not only known in Australia but considered internationally as one of the toughest races in the category.
The new sponsor for the great race was Repco who have claimed the naming rights over previous year’s sponsors, Supercheap Auto.
Usually the race includes international drivers but due to COVID-19 restrictions no overseas contestants were able or willing to come to Australia. Some notable drivers absent included, Greg Murphy and Richard Stanaway who were supposed to team up in a Boost Mobile Commodore and run with Murphy’s old number, car 51.
I’m also assuming it was to the relief of some local drivers that Scott McLaughlin wasn’t able to make it from the U.S., due to commitments in his Indy Cars maiden year.
It was also an emotionally filled last event for Roland Dane, Triple Eight Race Engineering founding member and team principal since 2003. His retirement from the position is opening the door to team driver and 7 time champion, Jamie Whincup. Jamie Whincup has now retired from full time racing after 20 years to take on this new role.
In honour of his achievements, Jamie Whincup was inducted into the Supercars Hall of Fame.
The Bathurst 1000 event is so huge that the preliminary sessions start taking place 5 days before the main event!
The results for the pre-race sessions were a mixed bag of this season’s fastest drivers. The only surprise were the following drivers weren’t in the mix; Season Champion Shane Van Gisbergen, highly accomplished long term driver Jamie Whincup and Anton de Pasquale (who has shown amazing speed and form in the last 4 events).
The pre-session results were as follows:
Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 1
Lee Holdsworth was fastest in Practice 2
Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 3
Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 4
Will Brown was fastest in Armour All Qualifying
Lee Holdsworth was fastest in Practice 5
Chaz Mostert was fastest in Practice 6
Brocq Feeney and Russell Ingall was fastest in the Warm Up
Finally the Sunday came and the 25 cars took their places on the grid just before 12:15pm.
Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth (car 25) started on pole position. Anton de Pasquale and Tony Dalberto (car 11) were in P2 alongside them.
It was the co-drivers behind the wheel of both cars, Lee Holdsworth and Tony Dalberto.
In fact most of the co-drivers started the race except for Tim Slade and Mark Winterbottom.
I thought given that it was Jamie Whincup’s last race, he would have started behind the wheel but it was his co-driver & 7 times Bathurst winner, Craig Lowndes.
As they took off from the start line, Tony Dalberto to my surprise led into turn 1 from his position 2 on the grid. He held the lead until ‘The Chase’ then Lee Holdsworth assumed the lead. He had .8 second lead and quickly had 1.1 second lead. Car 25 was a jet.
In that first lap the usual leap-frog of positions occurred. Garth Tander gained 3 spots and Craig Lowndes lost 2 after starting 5th and 11th on the grid respectively.
As they entered lap 2 the drivers settled down and had their first flying lap. Lee Holdsworth in car 25 was going so fast Garth Tander now in second place, had no chance in catching him.
By lap 3 car 20 driven by Scott Pye and co-driver James Golding came in early because of a mechanical drama. Scott Pye didn’t know what the problem was and the stop took up valuable time. When car 20 came back on track they were 1 lap down.
On lap 16 Craig Lowndes was a little bit sideways but recovered easily. In the next lap he took the opportunity to hand over to Jamie Whincup. The timing was perfect, as Whincup left the pitlane he had clear track in front of him.
It wasn’t until lap 17 that the first safety car was deployed because Thomas Randle in car 44 was buried in the sand at turn 1.
While all the pit-stops were happening car 25 was still the pace setter. The cars behind seemed to still have no chance to catch the pole sitting car.
On lap 29 car 9 driven by Jack Perkins had a power steering failure going across the top of the mountain. Smoke was pouring out the back of the car and cars behind had to slow down to keep out of the hazardous haze. Car 9 headed straight for the pits.
On lap 49 Chaz Mostert was still leading the race but suddenly started slowing on Conrod Straight. Commentator, Mark Skaife thought it was a mechanical drama but after the unscheduled pit stop it was revealed to simply be a flat tyre. It was a cruel blow that dropped him down from 1st to 12th.
It was now Cam Waters (#6), Brodi Kostecki (#99) and Shane Van Gisbergen (#888) in the top 3 positions with a 16+ seconds lead over Anton de Pasquale (#11) in 4th place.
After a few laps Brodi Kostecki went into the pits leaving the top 3 positions to Waters, Gisbergen and Whincup.
Further back in the pack Dean Fiore (co-driver to Tod Hazelwood, #14) returned to the pits with warped rear brakes plus an existing muffler problem that they decided not to fix. So they had issues on the throttle issue and on the brakes.
On lap 57 Cam Waters also headed to the pits. It was now Champion Elect Shane Van Gisbergen at the front with teammate Jamie Whincup right behind him in position 2. Whincup had gained 9 places.
Meanwhile Mostert was making way through the mayhem and was at 6th position fighting for his comeback.
By lap 61 Whincup headed in to the pits to hand over to Craig Lowndes. Mostert had amazingly worked his way through the pack and now in 2nd place to Gisbergen albeit roughly 35 seconds behind.
On lap 64 it was time for Shane Van Gisbergen to head to the pits. Mostert in car 25 was back in the lead!
On lap 105 Holdsworth who had a 39+ second lead headed to the pits. It was then that the 2nd safety car was deployed. It wasn’t due to any great pile up or accident but because an Echidna was on the track! I can only assume that it could sense the ground vibrations from the rumbling V8s and thought it was ants burrowing and there was a big feast to be had. If it were truly ants, all I can say is they would be damned BIG ants! (What was the echidna thinking?)
Once the Australian Native left the track the safety car peeled off and the race went back to green with 52 laps to go.
Holdsworth had handed over #25 to Chaz Mostert just as the race went yellow. So on the return to green it was Gisbergen, Mostert and Whincup in the the top 3 places but the leading gaps had closed up.
Gisbergen (#888) was racing for the team and slowed down enough to make Mostert (#25) attempt a pass but that would leave him wide and Whincup could gain a spot. A very clever tactic.
Soon enough Mostert lost his patience and tried his luck. It was bad timing considering the upcoming turns. Whincup managed to slip in while Mostert was wide. Then Mosterts poor positioning allowed Anton de Pasquale to pass him.
Mostert fought back and passed Anton de Pasquale at turn 1 on the next lap.
It was lap 114 of 161 and the competition was so fierce. The Triple Eight drivers in the lead, Gisbergen and Whincup both did their fastest lap of the race with Chaz Mostert hot on their tail.
It was then that car 35 driven by Jayden Ojeda (Zane Goddard) hit the wall and the 3rd safety car for the race was deployed. All drivers headed to the pits.
On exit it was busier than a Woolworths parking lot on Saturday morning. Brodi Kostecki squeezed in ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen. Will Davison tried the same thing but coming in from the left wasn’t seen by Jamie Whincup and they made contact. As a result Davison received a 5 second pit lane penalty that he had to serve in his next and last pit stop.
When the race went back to green the fierce driving returned lead by Reynolds (#26), Mostert(#25) and Gisbergen (#888).
On lap 121 the second Matt Stone Racing car #34, Jake & Kurt Kostecki hit the tyre barrier at Forest Elbow (didnt hit a funny bone) bringing out the 4th safety car of the day. The car looked pretty messed up. Somehow Jake Kostecki managed to reverse the car out of the barrier and make it back to the pits unassisted.
With 22 laps remaining Anton de Pasquale came to a halt midway through ‘The Cutting’. He couldn’t get the gears to engage and the race returned to Yellow for the 5th time.
The lead was now in the hands of Mostert, Gisbergen and Waters. Whincup had dropped to 5th place.
On lap 144 (19 laps remaining) newcomer Brocq Feeney left the track at turn 10 and ended up in the sand pit with a right front wheel bent at an unholy angle. The 6th safety car was sent out. With such little time left ‘The Enforcer and the Kid’ would not be returning to the track. (Russel Ingall’s nickname is The Enforcer).
The race went back to green with 16 laps to go. It was now on to the finish line for young and old with all the gaps closed up due to the safety car.
Between the last 16 laps and 10 laps remaining Mostert had worked up a 2.654 second lead over the defending Bathurst Champion Shane Van Gisbergen.
Mostert was only managing to gain a few 10ths of a second on each lap.
With 7 laps to go Mostert had a 4.599 second lead over SVG. It was then that Mostert got his lucky break. Shane Van Gisbergen started slow. It was the worst possible timing to get a flat tyre on the front right. By the time he reached the pits he had dropped from 2nd place to 18th while the others managed to clock up another 2 laps. They were at lap 156 of 161. SVG must have been devastated to be taken from a sure podium finish to the back of the pack. Credit to him, they changed the tyre and he headed back out to complete the race.
With SVG out of the way Mostert had a 5+ second lead over Cam Waters #6 and Brodi Kostecki #99 a further 3.4+ seconds back. Mostert in his jet of a car was driving flawlessy.
Whincup in 4th place was fighting for a podium finish in his last race as a full-time driver. The pace was so demonic he just couldn’t make any gain on Kostecki. IN fact in those last laps the split remained almost static the whole time.
On the last lap Mostert’s lead enable him to drive at a slower pace ensuring there were no last second mistakes. He comfortbly crossed the finish line to the cheers of the crowd.
This was Mostert’s second Bathurst win since his last in 2014 and 10 years since the team Walkinshaw Andretti United had their last Bathurst Win. Co-driver Lee Holdsworth looked like he was going to puke as he scored his first Bathurst after 18 attempts in The Big Race.
Results for race 31
1st Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth – Walkinshaw Andretti United.
2nd Cameron Waters and James Moffatt – Tickford Racing.
3rd Brodie Kostecki and David Russell – Erebus Motorsport.
4th Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes – Red Bull Ampol Racing.
Congratulations to Jamie Whincup on everything you have achieved during your amazing Supercars career, you should be so proud of yourself, best of luck for the future.
The next event is the Repco Newcastle 500 March 4th to 6th 2022.
Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!On the weekend of the 20th and 21st of March was the Penrite Oil Sandown Supersprint.
The event was held at the Sandown International Raceway. It is a famous track of 3.1 kilometres owned by Melbourne Racing Club with a rich history stretching beyond its opening as a raceway in 1962 and the first Sandown 500 in 1964. Prior to this it was a horse racing facilty built in the 19th century.
In motor racing it seems to be a tough and challenging track. History shows that both Ash Walsh and Lee Holdsworth crashed in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Both at the end of the back straight.
As for the event this year, it looked like it was going to be a tough one for the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. Three weeks ago after the opening round of the Supercars Championship at the Bathurst 500, Shane Van Gisbergen broke his collar bone in a mountain bike accident. He was admitted to hospital for surgery.
With such an injury it was doubtful Shane Van Gisbergen would be racing at Sandown . The team had Garth Tander on stand by to fill in. Even commentator Mark Skaife said that he didn’t think that Shane Van Gisbergen would race but… HE DID!!!.
I am sure Triple Eight had their concerns for Shane Van Gisbergen, as well as the impact on the team and the championship after his double win at the opening event, Bathurst 500.
Results for the Pre-Race sessions:
Jamie Whincup was fastest in Practice 1
Cameron Waters was fastest in Practice 2
Chaz Mostert was fastest in the Armour All Qualifying
Shane Van Gibergen qualified 17th
In race 3 Chaz Mostert started on pole position with Cameron Water alongside him.
At the start of the race Chaz Mostert led into turn 1 but Cameron Waters took the lead between turns 2 and 3.. During the opening stages Mark Winterbottom and Jamie Whincup were flying up to turn 1.
When the pit window opened the front runners stayed out while cars further back pitted.
In the middle of the race the drivers were going nuts because they knew that every pass they made was critical.
As it turned outShane Van Gisbergen started 17th with his broken collar bone and finished 1st ! Wow!. After his double win at Bathurst a few weeks back this was an exciting finish.
What a incredible race. Well done SVG.
Results for Race 3
1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. 2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing. 3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
Regardless of weather reports, races 4 and 5 were wet and created tension out on the track.
Shane Van Gisbergen astounded everyone by being fastest in the Qualifying for Race 4 earning him pole position. Alongside him was teammate Jamie Whincup.
At the start of the race Jamie Whincup took the lead into turn 1 but Shane Van Gisbergern was soon passed him.
Early on in the race Will Davison spun in between turns 2 and 3 and nearly collected Anton de Pasqaule on the re-join. Thankfully that didn’t happen.
The front runners stayed out while the cars back in the pack pitted.
Will Brown was charging through the pack in Race 4 just like Shane Van Gisbergen did in Race 3.
Brodie Kosecki was back in the pack so the Erebus team brought him in to give him clear air.
Once Shane Van Gisbergen took his final pit stop and re-joined he was the clear leader and seemed impossible to catch. Yes, Shane Van Gisbergen won this race too. That was 2 of 2 races for the weekend and 4 out of 4 for the season. Just incredible!
Results for Race 4
1st Shane Van Gisergen – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team. 2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing. 3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
In race 5 Shane Van Gisbergen again started on pole position with teammate Jamie Whincup alongside him.
During the opening laps Brodie Kostecki was up from 7th to 4th spot which Erebus Motorsport must have been happy with. I bet team owner Betty Klimenco regretted not being there and staying home with her sick dog. Boo hoo! Bow wow!
Will Brown, also from Erebus Motorsport came in early because he wasn’t moving forward.
Chaz Mostert was dogfighting up front for the lead. He just would’nt give in and some spectacular driving was on show. The manoeuvres were just incredible as he traded the lead with Shane Van Gisbergen multiple times. Im sure Shane Van Gisbergen was thinking Mostert was like a fly at a picnic. Just buzzing around and being a pest.
Once again towards the end of the race no one could catch Shane Van Gisbergen.
Incredible! 5 out of 5 races for the season.
Results for race 5
1st Shane van Gisbrgen – Red Bull Ampol Racing team. 2nd Brodie Kostecki – Erebus Motorsport. 3rd Jamie Whincup – Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
The next event is the Beaurepairs Tasmania Supersprint has been delayed 1 week due to COVID19 lock downs. It will now be run on the 17th and 18th of April 2021.
