Shane van Gisbergen has survived a chaotic race to win the 2022 Bathurst 1000 with Garth Tander as his co-driver. The duo fought off a late challenge from Chaz Mostert to take the victory with a 1.1 second the gap between the duo after nearly seven hours of racing over the famous 6.2km long Mount Panorama circuit.
Mostert, with a Kiwi co-driver in Fabian Coulthard, made it two New Zealanders on the top two steps, whilst Cam Waters and James Moffat came home in third.
It was the perfect conclusion to a rain-soaked weekend. The clear weather running only once dampened by a brief shower in the early stages while a muddy in-field and standing water remaining on parts of the track were the only hints of the weather bomb that had hit in the days prior.
In an incident-filled race, the eighth safety car of the day, caused by a Will Davison crash, made it a 15 lap sprint to the line for the remaining competitors.
It became a three-horse race between van Gisbergen, Mostert and Waters, the Kiwi holding off a spirited challenge from Mostert behind over the concluding laps.
In true SVG fashion, he celebrated the victory with a trademark burnout.
The win also marks the end of an era for Holden at Bathurst, to be replaced by Gen3 Chevrolet Camaros from next year. The Red Bull Racing Commodore made it 33 victories for the manufacturer since 1975 at the circuit.
It is Van Gisbergen’s second Bathurst 1000 victory, after his maiden win in 2020, and the fifth for Tander. The victory also made it the 100th time Tander has stood on the Supercars podium.
The run time of nearly seven hours summed up the chaos that unfolded, two major incidents early on retiring multiple drivers from the event, including New Zealander Andre Heimgartner.
There were also several off-track excursions throughout the day, many of the cars, however, were able to rejoin proceedings later on.
The safety car interventions worked well for many of those impacted, several of the top 10 finishers having been involved in the carnage at some point in the race.
The win makes it 19 in 2022 for van Gisbergen, making this the most successful Supercar season of all time, eclipsing Scott McLaughlin’s record of 18 set in 2019.
Brodie Kostecki and David Russel earned a well-deserved fourth and looked set for a podium at one point, the senior three up front however too quick for the 24-year-old. He came home fourth, ahead of Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup.
Matt Payne was the third best Kiwi on the day in sixth place as he co-drove for Lee Holdsworth.
The Richie Stanaway and Greg Murphy wildcard finished in 11th place, whilst Chris Pither suffered an unlucky power steering failure which relegated him to 21st.
Pither, and Cameron Hill, had driven a great race to sit just outside the top 10 until the black-and-white flag was shown in the dying stages.
Despite the victory, and record, van Gisbergen was unable to claim the 75 points extra over Waters to claim the 2022 Supercars title.
Instead, he will have to wait until the next-up Gold Coast 500 to close out the title. The gap to Waters now sits at 567 points, meaning van Gisbergen only needs 33 points to close out the series.
The Gold Coast 500 takes place over the weekend of 28-30 October.
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