Record-breaking van Gisbergen on hot streak

For the second time this season, champion-elect Shane van Gisbergen is on a winning streak.

Van Gisbergen swept the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 to take his season wins tally to 21.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver — for the second time in 2022 — has won five races in a row.

The Kiwi has won a staggering 14 of the last 16 races dating back to July’s NTI Townsville 500.

Will Davison — at Sandown and Pukekohe — denied van Gisbergen on both occasions.

The 33-year-old could end 2022 on 23 wins, five more than the previous record set by Scott McLaughlin in 2019.

McLaughlin won six straight races in 2019, a marker matched or bettered by seven drivers.

Countryman van Gisbergen is one of them, having won seven straight across the 2020 and 2021 campaigns.

Van Gisbergen is the first driver to win five or more consecutive races in a season twice.

Should he sweep the VALO Adelaide 500, he will end 2022 on a streak of seven straight wins.

That would bring him level with his own benchmark across the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Van Gisbergen won the first six races of 2021, having ended 2020 as the Bathurst champion.

Craig Lowndes’ all-time record of eight straight — set in 1996 — was under threat earlier this year.

Van Gisbergen won five straight in Townsville and Tailem Bend before he was off the pace on New Zealand Saturday.

He turned it around on the Sunday, with van Gisbergen unbeaten since.

Van Gisbergen is a dominant force on the Adelaide streets, but hasn’t won there since 2018.

Van Gisbergen, Davison, James Courtney and Nick Percat are the only drivers on the 2022 grid to have won in Adelaide.

Most consecutive race wins

Eight wins

Craig Lowndes, 1996 (Lakeside, Barbagallo, Mallala)

Seven wins

Jamie Whincup, 2008 (Bathurst, Gold Coast, Bahrain)Shane van Gisbergen, 2020/21 (Bathurst 2020/Bathurst, Sandown, Tasmania 2021)

Six wins

Allan Moffat, 1977 (Tasmania, Calder, Oran Park, Amaroo, Sandown)Dick Johnson, 1981/82 (1981 Adelaide, Surfers, Lakeside/1982 Sandown, Calder)Jim Richards, 1985 (Perth, Adelaide, Calder, Surfers, Lakeside, Amaroo)Mark Skaife, 1994 (Amaroo, Sandown, Tasmania)Scott McLaughlin, 2019 (Perth, Winton, Darwin, Townsville)

Five wins

Allan Moffat, 1972/73 (1972 Oran Park, Tasmania, Calder, Sandown/1973 Perth)Peter Brock, 1980 (Tasmania, Calder, Lakeside, Sandown)Craig Lowndes, 1998 (Mallala, Perth, Calder)Craig Lowndes, 1999 (Eastern Creek, Adelaide, Perth)Marcos Ambrose, 2004/05 (2004 Eastern Creek/2005 Adelaide)Garth Tander, 2007 (Perth, Pukekohe)Shane van Gisbergen, 2022* (Townsville, Tailem Bend)Shane van Gisbergen, 2022* (Pukekohe, Bathurst, Gold Coast)**

*Season ongoing**Active streak