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V8 Supercars Ace van Gisbergen Among Bathurst 12 Hour Winners
After a successful 2015 that saw him sign with series-leading Triple Eight Racing, New Zealand's Shane van Gisbergen has proven time and time again that he is one of the most talented drivers in Australia's V8 Supercars. In the past few years, however, he's also made an impact in sports cars, with a series of impressive runs in GT cars at the annual offseason endurance races in Bathurst and Daytona that have garnered him international respect. Those runs generally ended in heartbreak, as his Rolex 24 at Daytona did this year when his Alex Job Racing Porsche had a rear wing failure from near the GTD class lead in the race's final hour, but yesterday, the Holden ace's speed was finally rewarded with a win.
The victory was also the first in the Bathurst 12 hour, an on-the-rise race primarily for GT3 cars at the beautiful Mount Panorama circuit, for both McLaren and the Tekno Autosport team van Gisbergen once raced for in V8 Supercars. The win is big for Tekno, as well as owner/driver Jonathon Webb, but likely even bigger for McLaren (who supplied the car's third driver, Alvaro Parente), winning what is arguably their biggest sports car victory since the F1 program reached the highest of highs in the mid-90s, winning Le Mans overall among other successes.
A factory-backed Nissan team, supported by a V8 Supercar ace of their own in Rick Kelly, came up just a second and a half short of victory after Katsumasa Chiyo nearly caught a then-struggling McLaren in the race's final laps. Bentley's own factory-supported GT3 program would complete the overall podium in a relatively distant third, an impressive showing for a car that has struggled at times to finish longer races.
