Flying Kiwi ready

SHANE Van Gisbergen has come a long way since bursting on to the Supercars scene as a teenager.

The Auckland-born driver was just 18 years of age when he debuted in a Team Kiwi Falcon at the old Oran Park Raceway in August 2007.

At that point he was relatively fresh to circuit racing, having generally preferred dirt and speedway-based events.

Van Gisbergen impressed enough in the seven rounds of his partial debut season to be picked up by Stone Brothers Racing as a replacement for former champion Russell Ingall.

He placed fifth in his second race for the team before clinching his maiden podium a few months later when he finished runner-up to Craig Lowndes at Sandown.

Today Van Gisbergen enters the Gold Coast 600 as the championship series leader and man to beat for the 2017 crown.

But the 27-year-old Red Bull Racing driver admits he found the early phases of his Supercars career difficult.

“It was a big step for me coming from New Zealand,” he told the Bulletin.

“I was good enough to do it, I just didn’t have enough grounding I guess.

“I just had never really had that level of competition. There was a lot of good guys in New Zealand – I grew up racing Earl Bamber and he went on to win Le Mans (last year) but yeah having 20 guys at that level was another step.”

Over time, Van Gisbergen edged his way closer and closer to the front until truly announcing himself in 2010 during an exhilarating battle with Jamie Whincup through the streets of the Gold Coast.

Van Gisbergen was the motorsport-obsessed young gun who by that stage had eight podiums to his name but no wins. Whincup, meanwhile, was then a reigning two-time series champion.

Lap after lap Van Gisber- gen’s Ford relentlessly hunted Whincup’s Holden, making countless passing attempts ultimately in vain.

“That’s probably the happiest I have ever been to come second,” the Kiwi said. “I hadn’t won a race at that stage so I was out of control trying to win it but awesome race … that was one of the coolest battles I have ever had.”

Whincup recalled the duel with equal fondness.

“It was just do or die … the result meant so much. It was a proper Holden versus Ford battle,” he said.

Fast forward six years and Van Gisbergen lines up alongside Whincup at the category’s premier team, Red Bull Racing Australia.

And the stage is again set for an almighty Surfers Paradise battle between the duo as they vie for the title.

Back-to-back endurance disasters for Whincup means he enters today’s first race trailing the man known as “SVG” by 139 points.

Most people in pitlane believe it is a two-horse race for the title and will be watching with anticipation for any signs of disunity within the powerful Red Bull team.

Whincup has won six titles for the team, Van Gisbergen is in his first year in the same garage. It could get awkward.

Craig Lowndes might drive for Team Vortex but he is the third car in the Triple Eight team that runs Red Bull. He said the title will come down to who holds their nerve.

“It’s going to come down to either one of them making a mistake,” he said.

Van Gisbergen spoke of his evolution from a rookie to now but Lowndes added the No.97 driver has continued making giant steps this year.

“There has never been a question about his speed or his ability, it was just a matter of getting him into a team that is