To land title
capable of delivering a car that he wants or needs as a consistency,” Lowndes said.
“There’s no doubt that he struggled a little bit when he first joined the team (from Tekno Autosports in the offseason) because every team runs a different way.
“As the year started he wasn’t happy with the car and the way it was feeling but he was still winning races and as the year has gone on he has got stronger with the team and the car so I think he will be hard to beat for the championship.”
Van Gisbergen’s co-driver Alex Premat said the 27-yearold was handling the pressure well and could go on to secure his first title.
“The last two races at San- down and Bathurst, I would say for sure Jamie was a bit faster than us but with the pressure they did make some mistakes and at the end we scored more points than them,” he said.
According to Whincup, there was never any doubt Van Gisbergen would eventually find himself in this position.
The man himself believes he has reached this position as a result of the lessons he has learnt.
“It’s just like any part of life, you just get more experienced and learn,” Van Gisbergen said.
“As long as you learn from your mistakes and want to get better, then things will happen.”