The Skaife benchmark in van Gisbergen's sights

Shane van Gisbergen’s record-breaking season could go to even more heights on the Gold Coast.

Van Gisbergen is armed to seal his second straight title at the forthcoming Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver leads Cam Waters by 567 points with 600 remaining.

Should he clinch the title, van Gisbergen will become the 11th driver to win consecutive championships.

Van Gisbergen has been a fixture of the podium in 2022, having scored 25 trophies in 30 starts.

Of the 25 podiums, 19 have been wins, helping van Gisbergen past Scott McLaughlin’s 2019 record of 18.

Van Gisbergen now has 164 podiums to his name

McLaughlin’s record only lasted three years, but one has remained in Mark Skaife’s hands for 22 years.

Skaife’s march to the 2000 championship featured 25 top three finishes.

In the years since, no driver has cracked 25; Jamie Whincup finished on the podium 24 times in 2012.

Whincup and Craig Lowndes scored 23 top three finishes in 2008 and 1999 respectively.

Between 1960 and 2008, podiums were awarded for the top three for the round; they have been awarded for individual races since 2009.

Van Gisbergen tallied 23 podiums last year, with 14 of them victories.

The Kiwi has gone to another level in 2022, with his recent Bathurst win his 25th top three finish of the season.

The 33-year-old could finish the season with as many as 29 podiums from 34 starts.

Van Gisbergen has missed the podium just five times; fifth twice (Perth and Pukekohe), sixth (Sydney), 20th (Albert Park) and Darwin (21st).

He ran in the podium positions before missing out at Albert Park (tyre failure) and Darwin (contact with Will Davison).

The other three results came after lowly qualifying efforts.

Van Gisbergen van both surpass Skaife’s marker and clinch the 2022 title on Saturday.

“We’re not the best in qualifying, we’re not the fastest car,” van Gisbergen said after winning Bathurst.

“But in the races, we seem to execute. Working with Andrew [Edwards, race engineer] has been fantastic.

“When we’re under pressure, when things aren’t so good, he tunes the car up and goes about it.

“Along with the rest of the engineering group, we’re in a special place at the moment.

“Obviously it's going to change next year and be a lot more difficult, but this year’s been very cool."

Most top three finishes in a season