Second Supercars title for van Gisbergen

A ‘non-event’ has granted Shane van Gisbergen a well-earned second Repco Supercars Championship title at the Sydney Motorsport Park, Heavy rain hit the second-leg of the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight bringing about the cancellation of Race 60. With no points awarded, van Gisbergen clinched the driver’s title with an unassailable 349-point lead over Red Bull Ampol Racing team mate Jamie Whincup with one round, the Bathurst 1000, remaining.

“It’s still pretty fresh and the feeling of it all hasn’t really sunk in, but it’s been an awesome year,” commented van Gisbergen. “We’ve had some challenges, some ups and downs, but we’ve come here to Sydney with a plan with and we’ve pretty much executed that plan at every race.

“We’ve been super consistent and did what we needed to do, and overall, it’s been an awesome year. I obviously had some challenges earlier in the year breaking myself, but the car has been fantastic, the team has been fantastic, and I’m super stoked with everything.

The 32-year-old now becomes the 14th driver in the ATCC/Supercars history to win two or more titles. His Triple Eight Race Engineering team (Red Bull Ampol Racing) won its tenth teams’ title.

“Although Sydney Motorsport Park isn’t my favourite track, it’s been cool that we’ve been able to come here and we’ve been well accommodated here. The facilities are awesome, and it’s been a great home base for the guys prepping the cars every week, so I appreciate what the staff have done for us over the last four weeks.

“Our race pace was always good, but we could never qualify well, but we executed our plans and ended up with the most points over the last four weeks which is awesome.

Van Gisbergen also won the Beaurepaires Sydney Cup and $25,000 cash prize for the top driver over the four consecutive rounds held at the Sydney Motorsport Park.

“We can now look forward to Bathurst with a weight off our shoulders and give it a red-hot crack to win the biggest race of the year.”

The championship now heads to the season finale, the Repco Bathurst 1000 in a fortnight’s time.