Shane van Gisbergen took his sixth straight win in the Repco Australia Supercars Championship in Tasmania yesterday joining both Allan Moffat (in 1977) and Mark Skaife (in 1994) as drivers to have opened a season with six consecutive wins.
“The car was really awesome straight off the bat – we didn’t change much,” commented van Gisbergen. “The weather conditions were a little challenging, mainly the sunlight which was changing the track conditions quite a bit, but we seemed to manage it well.
Van Gisbergen had earlier gapped the field in qualifying, 0.3325s ahead of second fastest Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters, claiming a fourth ARMOR All Pole Position in 2021.
“Man, that qualifying session was great,” said SVG. “The whole time the car was awesome, and we didn’t have to change anything – we didn’t have any comments on the car, so the crew did a fantastic job preparing both cars for this weekend.
Despite a poor start off the line, dropping him to third behind Waters and Jamie Whincup, van Gisbergen quickly made up the difference taking the lead to the chequered flag ahead of Whincup and Anton De Pasquale.
“In the race I got a shocking start, but I managed to get a couple of good passes under my belt,” SVG commented. “Throughout the race, I managed my tyres well and tried to manage my front tyres because that’s what we’re going to have to reuse tomorrow. To get a one-two for the team today is the perfect start to the weekend.”
Saturday’s win marked van Gisbergen’s seventh straight win dating back to October’s Bathurst 1000. Van Gisbergen could surpass Moffat and Skaife should he take out Sunday’s Race 7.
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