Shane van Gisbergen has won both Repco Supercars Championship races (28 & 29) at the ITM Auckland SuperSprint on Sunday at Pukekohe Park Raceway. Having struggled in Saturday qualifying and the first race of the last Supercars round to be held at the Auckland circuit, finishing fifth, the current Series leader went on to take victory on Sunday, winning the round, increasing his points lead and securing the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy for a third time.
“It’s been a very special day,” commented van Gisbergen. “We’ve been really struggling with the car in a couple of areas and I couldn’t fix the car, but Andrew (Edwards) did a really cool tweak for that last race which made a huge difference.
“Our qualifying was ok this morning in one session (P1) but not the other (P8), and I was only good in the first race because I had clear air. I knew we had to change something to the car, and Andrew did his thing – I don’t know what he did but it worked a treat.”
Van Gisbergen had to overhaul Cam Waters in order to win Sunday’s finale and has now extended his championship lead to 525, heading to the Repco Bathurst 1000 in early October.
“Right from the start I knew I had a good car, and guys in front of me kept pitting and I kept getting clear air. I noticed Andre (Heimgartner) was battling at the hairpin for a couple of laps and I knew I’d be able to jump some people.
“When I came out after my pit stop, I stayed up it and had some good battles with Andre and Cam (Waters). I felt good in the car, especially in the last race. Seeing the crowd on the hill and the responses when I passed someone – even when I was side-by-side with Cam (Waters) you could see them going wild, it was pretty motivating and made it hard to focus.
“When I passed Cam (Waters) into the hairpin, the crowd went nuts, and to me it was better than Bathurst.
“This is one of the all time greatest moments in my motorsport career. The way we won that race, and seeing how much it meant to everyone and how much it meant to Andrew (Edwards), it was so special to him. He worked with JR (Jason Richards) and was very close to that team, and to have Jase’s parents there made it very cool.”
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