New Zealand driver Shane van Gisbergen is only two events away from becoming the first Kiwi in two decades to win the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.
The Red Bull Racing Holden driver returns to home turf for the ITM Auckland SuperSprint at Pukekohe Park Raceway next week with a 148 point lead over teammate Jamie Whincup.
There are 600 points available for the winner in the final two stops at Auckland finally in Sydney. As a rule of thumb, if Whincup won all six remaining races – four 100km races at Pukekohe and two 250km races in Sydney- then van Gisbergen would have to finish inside the top six.
However if he failed to finish any race, he could lose at least half of his advantage.
Van Gisbergen realises that the stakes are high for his return to Pukekohe but he hopes the home country crowd will turn up in droves to support all the Kiwi drivers.
“It is a critical round – the one before the final – and I will be pretty pumped up for it and trying to get a result,” van Gisbergen said.
As a South Auckland resident, van Gisbergen is at home at the spiritual home of motorsport in this country at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
“It is probably my biggest race of the year, getting to finally race at home. We only get to race at home once a year so it is always one to look forward to for me.”
He won’t be the only Kiwi chasing glory, with Scott McLaughlin pushing up to fourth place in the championship and chasing a top-3 finish in his final year with the Garry Rogers Motorsport Volvo team.
Next year he joins fellow Kiwi Fabian Coulthard at the DJR Team Penske operation, with Coulthard hoping for better fortunes on home turf after suffering a massive accident at the Gold Coast.
Teams face a busy few days to prepare cars for the air freight shipment to Auckland in readiness for the ITM Auckland SuperSprint on 4-6 November.
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