Shane van Gisbergen says “shit” penalty tough to accept

Shane van Gisbergen received a tough blow ahead of the final Supercars championship race of 2018 when he was stripped of his victory in the penultimate race following a pit stop penalty, a penalty that was tough to accept according to the Holden driver.

“The bloody series took it away from us. That’s shit,” said van Gisbergen in a Fox Sports TV interview.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver was penalised as the team lowered the car during his final stop when the fueling hose was still connected.

Van Gisbergen accepted that the incident would provide a penalty, but not that he would be given a time penalty as a similar incident with another driver (Anton De Pasquale) earlier this season resulted only in a fine and a team championship point reduction.

“When I saw the footage, it was obvious we’d have a penalty. But they saw the exact same things this year even, and it was points and a fine,” said van Gisbergen.

“They’ve never come up with a driver penalty before. We had to accept it, but it was tough.”

The Kiwi lost by 71 points to title rival Scott McLaughlin after struggling for pace in the final race where he finished fourth.

“We did everything we could. Congrats to them, they’ve been worthy competitors and worthy champions,” said van Gisbergen.