SVG’s win for nostalgia
IT took a whole lot of heart, even more skill and just a tiny bit of luck for Shane van Gisbergen to win a record third Jason Richards Memorial Trophy on Sunday.
The New Zealander saluted at Pukekohe Park’s Supercars swan song courtesy of back-toback race victories, edging out Cam Waters and fellow Kiwi Andre Heimgartner in race 29 for a thrilling end to an emotional weekend.
Starting the final race of the round eighth on the grid, the runaway Supercars Championship leader was given next to no hope of catching polesitter Will Davison given the Shell V-Power driver’s consistency across the weekend.
Davison sat four points behind van Gisbergen in the JR Trophy race heading into race 29 and, having survived an early safety car and repeat challenges from Waters, held his nerve at the front as the race reached its middle stages.
The #17 Mustang looked destined for a second win of the weekend and fourth of the season, which would have secured the JR Trophy, until disaster struck.
Davison received a pit lane drive through penalty for an unsafe release and he was forced to watch his race victory hopes drive past him.
With the Shell V-Power driver relegated to the back of the field, the Davison-Waters battle for glory then became a van Gisbergen-Waters heartstopper, coming to a head on lap 35, when the two cars came together multiple times in a jostle for top spot.
Waters held off the hometown hero best he could but, with two laps to go, and the crowd on the hill cheering him on, van Gisbergen sealed the deal with a pass on the outside down the home straight that got the fans on their feet.
The 33-year-old flew to the chequered flag to make it six career victories at Pukekohe and 18 on the season, fittingly equalling the mark for most wins in a single season set by fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin in 2019.
He has a further five races on the schedule to rewrite the record books and could do so when Supercars makes its way to Bathurst next month.
An emotional van Gisbergen admitted to Greg Murphy after the race that he didn’t have much hope of breaking through from eighth.
“A bit of you, a bit of JR, a bit of the crowd – unbelievable,” he said of his motivation during the race. “From eighth I didn’t think we could do that.
“It’s a dream. I grew up watching Supercars here and fell in love with it (at Pukekohe) and just wanted to be a Supercar driver, and to send this place out like that is a pretty amazing feeling.”
Waters said he “threw everything” at van Gisbergen, who extended his series lead over the Monster Energy driver to 525 points, but conceded it was “a little bit fitting” that his rival won in the final race at Pukekohe.