BATHURST 1000
“IT’S good to be back.” If there was a sign that Shane van Gisbergen will be a man to watch at Mount Panorama this weekend, those words would be it.
The talented Kiwi made the statement after he and co-driver Jono Webb landed a podium at the Sandown 500, the first leg of the Enduro Cup.
And with confidence and speed, van Gisbergen most certainly shapes as a threat in the showpiece of the V8 Supercars’ calendar – the Bathurst 1000.
Last year the TEKNO Autosports driver enjoyed his best finish in the championship as he placed second behind Jamie Whincup.
This year van Gisbergen has never been outside the top 10 in the championship and stood on the podium at Sandown, Clipsal and Tasmania.
But his third placing at Sandown behind the Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert Prodrive Racing entries was his first podium in 18 races.
Prior to the first endurance round, his Holden Commodore VF was not providing him with the speed he wanted. Now it appears the team have found that pace.
“From a team point of view we’ve been struggling, going backwards every race, so to be able to push on with these guys [Winterbottom, Mostert] – it’s good to be back,” van Gisbergen, who sits seventh in the championship, said.
“Little tweaks made a big difference and it just felt good all weekend to get in races and push that whole time and not look in the rear view mirror.
“I think just being on the podium was awesome after the last few rounds we’d had.”
A Great Race podium will most certainly be the goal for van Gisbergen this Sunday. For all his talent, the best he has fared in the 161-lap endurance epic at Mount Panorama is a sixth placing which came in 2011 with John McIntyre.
His record of one top 10 finish looked like improving last year when he came into the pits with 11 laps to go.
He had led the race for 45 laps and after fuelling up for the final time, was poised to claim the chequered flag.
But instead of driving out of the pits and on to a potential victory, he stalled and could not restart the car. His crew replaced the starter motor and van Gisbergen got home in 16th, but it was little consolation.
“It’s gutting,” van Gisbergen said at the time.
“We had a fast car and whether we would have won or not, I don’t know, but we had an awesome shot at it.
“It was the first time I had a clean, fast car at the end of the race and I was giving it all I had.
“It had been hard to get out of the box all day and I just used too much throttle.”
It is an incident that van Gisbergen has not been allowed to forget, but he is adamant he will not make the same mistake again.
That he had no troubles with his stops at Sandown further cemented that belief.
“Everyone keeps reminding us of not getting out of the pits – it’s what happened,” he said.
“But I think we’ll be right up there. I’ve got confidence in the car again now, it feels normal and I can push as hard as I can every time.
“Just having that confidence heading to a track like that [Bathurst] is a good thing to have.”
