Van Gisbergen feeling fresh despite hectic schedule

Shane van Gisbergen has plenty of fuel in the tank for Gold Coast and Adelaide despite a packed 2022 schedule.

Van Gisbergen has supplemented his Supercars campaign with several extra-curricular starts.

In 32 weeks between the Sydney opener and Bathurst, van Gisbergen had 22 racing commitments.

That features 11 Supercars rounds, three GTWC rounds, a Bathurst 12 Hour, four rallies and a Le Mans debut.

Van Gisbergen arrived in Bathurst just days after he scored points on his World Rally Championship debut.

He put fears of burnout to bed with a resounding second Great Race win with Garth Tander.

Where some drivers need a break, van Gisbergen made it clear he needs to be in and around cars to stay sharp.

Two days after he began his Supercars title defence in Sydney, he tested his Skoda rally car in Canberra.

He then raced Triple Eight’s Mercedes at Phillip Island, clean swept the Supercars Tasmania round, and scored a debut ARC podium.

He followed that with wins at Albert Park, and was set to make a Bathurst 6 Hour start before he missed out due to COVID-19.

In May and June alone, he raced his Supercar (Perth, Winton and Darwin), scored a 12 Hour podium, watched the Monaco Grand Prix and made his Le Mans debut.

July featured Supercars dominance in Townsville and Tailem Bend, and hometown rally starts (Far North Rally and Rally Hawke’s Bay).

ARC debut podium in April

The Supercars wins kept coming, with the crowing glory a Bathurst victory following his WRC debut.

Despite the busy lead-in, van Gisbergen was adamant he was on the money when he got into the car at Mount Panorama on the Thursday.

It was a sketchy build-up; van Gisbergen scraped the wall in Practice 1, had another off, and clashed with Macauley Jones in qualifying.

From there, however, the 33-year-old felt at one and executed alongside Tander on race day.

“I’m good. Right from Thursday, I felt on it in the car,” he said.

“Driving so much, it keeps you so much sharper, I think.

Le Mans debut in June

“When you don’t drive a car for two or three weeks, you jump in and everything’s happening very fast.

“All this driving, it makes me better as a driver.

“Yeah there’s some risk, especially with the rally stuff.

“But I think it makes me a lot better.”

Not content to put his feet up, van Gisbergen also enjoys dirt biking in the interim.

Between the start of July and Bathurst, van Gisbergen competed on 10 of 14 weekends.

It left Tander in awe: “Finished inside the top 10 at a WRC event, then seven days later, delivered what he did [in Bathurst].

"I said to Shane after the Pukekohe result that I would never blow wind up his ass.

“But he’s going okay right now… it’s hard not to.

"It’s a privilege to be able to get close, see the data, see the vision, work with him, see how he goes about it.

“Even though I’m an old bastard, I still get the opportunity to learn a lot.”

Van Gisbergen can secure the 2022 at next weekend's Surfers Paradise event.

Van Gisbergen’s busy 2022 schedule

March 4-6: Supercars, SydneyMarch 8: ARC test, CanberraMarch 18-20: GTWC, Phillip IslandMarch 26-27: Supercars, TasmaniaApril 1-3: ARC, CanberraApril 7-10: Supercars, Albert ParkApril 17: Bathurst 6 Hour (missed)April 30-May 1: Supercars, PerthMay 13-15: Bathurst 12 HourMay 21-22: Supercars, WintonMay 29: Monaco Grand Prix (spectator)June 10-12: 24 Hours of Le Mans, FranceJune 17-19: Supercars, DarwinJuly 2: Far North Rally, NZJuly 8-10: Supercars, TownsvilleJuly 23: Rally Hawke’s Bay, NZJuly 30-31: Supercars, The BendAugust 5-7: GTWC, IpswichAugust 20-21: Supercars, SandownSeptember 9-11: Supercars, PukekoheSeptember 16-18: GTWC, SandownSeptember 30-October 2: WRC, NZOctober 6-9: Supercars, Bathurst