Van Gisbergen wins 2022 Repco Supercars Championship

Shane van Gisbergen is now a three-time Supercars Champion, with the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver wrapping up this year’s title at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 in October.

The 33-year-old Kiwi came into this season’s penultimate round with a commanding 567-point lead in the championship over Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters, so only needed only to come out of the round’s two 250km races with a 450-point lead to secure the title.

After qualifying second behind Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds for the round’s opening race, van Gisbergen made a push for the race lead on lap 15 of 85, and while he couldn’t make it stick that time, he completed it successfully a lap later.

Form there, van Gisbergen remained in front after the initial round of pit stops and went on to extend his lead in the latter stages, ultimately taking the win by a comfortable 16.85 seconds from Reynolds.

The race win was van Gisbergen’s 20th this year and 11th from the past 13 starts. Earlier in October, van Gisbergen won the Bathurst 1000 alongside Garth Tander; a victory that eclipsed the previous one-season win record of 18 held by Scott McLaughlin.

With Waters finishing the Gold Coast race in fifth, it was more than enough to give van Gisbergen the 450-point lead he needed for an unassailable championship margin.

"That was amazing, it was a great battle at the start [and] Dave was driving awesome. I enjoyed racing him, it's been a while,” van Gisbergen said.

On wrapping up his third Supercars Championship, he added: “What a year, it's been a lot of fun.

"To see the guys, how much effort they've been putting in... I'm stoked, It's hard to put it into words."

Despite the title already being secured, van Gisbergen rolled out on Sunday to take pole for the second 250km race, but in the race itself, a controversial incident on the opening lap put Shell V-Power Racing’s Will Davison into a lead he would hold until lap 11.

After the first round of pit stops, a short-fuel strategy from Mobil 1 Optus Racing put Chaz Mostert into the lead, but van Gisbergen would be back in front after his second pit stop on lap 51.

Within 15 laps of that stop, van Gisbergen held a lead of around 6.0 seconds over Mostert, but following a safety car intervention that condensed the field, that margin was cut. Ultimately, van Gisbergen would win the race by just over 2.0 seconds, making it a Gold Coast 500 clean sweep.

The Kiwi’s second race win for the weekend also meant Red Bull Ampol Racing won the Supercars Teams’ Championship for the second successive year. It’s also the tenth drivers’ championship for Triple Eight Race Engineering, equalling the record of Dick Johnson Racing (aka Shell V-Power Racing).

With three ATCC/Supercars drivers’ championships now to his name, van Gisbergen joins Scott McLaughlin, Peter Brock and Craig Lowndes, but still has the job ahead of him to equal Jamie Whincup’s seven championships.