Shane van Gisbergen downplays significance of 17th to first effort

Supercars championship leader Shane van Gisbergen has tried to deflect any kind of praise from his drive in today’s opening Sandown SuperSprint outing, a race where he came from 17th on the grid to take the lead and victory on the final lap.

Having entered the round with a cloud hanging over him thanks to a broken collarbone, van Gisbergen and Triple Eight got the job done on Saturday afternoon to make use of fresh tyres at the end of the race to charge to his 43rd career win.

Despite being in obvious physical pain, van Gisbergen was calm after climbing out of the car post-race, saying to Supercars reporter and endurance co-driver Garth Tander that the team he’s had behind him in the past few weeks extends beyond Triple Eight.

“I had so much help over the past couple of weeks,” he said post-race.

“Good surgeons, hyperbaric chambers, a nice girlfriend looking after me and our physio. It’s been a tough couple of weeks but I feel awesome in the car and my car’s great.

“Hopefully that was a good show to watch, I was trying!”

The main question mark heading in to the round was how van Gisbergen’s broken left collarbone would hold up around the high-kerbed circuit. He was pulled out of a drive in last weekend’s GT World Challenge races at Phillip Island, resting for Sandown which allowed him to put in today’s stellar drive.

“I didn’t know how good the car was going to be over a distance and my pain’s no worse than it is.

We should be alright tomorrow. It hurts but I’m not damaging it by driving.”

Thanks to the win, van Gisbergen has now taken all 400 points available so far in the championship, 60 points ahead of today’s pole-sitter Chaz Mostert to had to settle for sixth despite leading coming into the last handful of laps for Walkinshaw Andretti United.