Van Gisbergen surpasses Lowndes record in Melbourne

A trio of podiums at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint has seen Shane van Gisbergen jump Craig Lowndes in the Supercars record books.

Van Gisbergen recorded results of first, second, second and fourth to move to third in the championship.

The 33-year-old’s Race 3 victory was the 77th of his career, and his 168th podium.

Two more visits to the podium took van Gisbergen to 170 career podiums, pushing him past Lowndes’ tally of 169.

Van Gisbergen is now second overall on the podiums list, with former teammate Jamie Whincup up the road on 237.

From 2009 onwards, podiums have been recognised as the top three finishers in each race.

Podium No. 1: Abu Dhabi, 2010

Podium finishers from 1960 to 2008 were the top three finishers for the round overall and not in individual races.

Whincup and Lowndes have 267 and 265 top three finishes respectively.

Van Gisbergen’s first podium came at the Abu Dhabi 2010 season opener, and his first victory came at Hamilton in 2011.

Should van Gisbergen carry on his title-winning form from the last two seasons, he will become the second driver to score 200 Supercars podiums.

While unable to defend his Larry Perkins Trophy win from 2022, the weekend still proved crucial for the Red Bull Ampol Chevrolet star.

Van Gisbergen heads to the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint just 86 points from the series lead.

Teammate Broc Feeney won the Melbourne finale, while Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki won two races and the Perkins Trophy.

"A massive congratulations to Brodie and the team for winning the Larry Perkins Trophy,” van Gisbergen said.

“We really wanted to defend that because it’s such a special trophy, but I think they’re worthy winners.

"Of course, well done to Broc, Marty [Short, #88 race engineer] and the team for an awesome job and for getting another win.

"It was a really good points weekend for us, and I think we closed the championship gap in every race, so I’m stoked."

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint on April 28-30.

Most podium finishes

237: Jamie Whincup170: Shane van Gisbergen169: Craig Lowndes117: Mark Winterbottom106: Scott McLaughlin100: Peter Brock, Garth Tander88: Mark Skaife83: Chaz Mostert78: Will Davison