Full radio: Van Gisbergen's Tassie trickery

Gamesmanship was on show in Shane van Gisbergen’s march to victory in the Tasmania finale.

Van Gisbergen was a cut above at Symmons Plains, winning all three NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint races.

Having muscled his way to victory on Saturday, it was his win in Race 5 which raised eyebrows.

Speaking after the race, van Gisbergen claimed he tricked his Shell V-Power Racing Team rivals into pitting early.

"I was screaming over the radio pretending I had no rear [tyres left] so they pitted early and then I just went,” he said.

"So, sucked in.

"We’ve got some tough competition from these guys.

"I don’t mean that [sucked in] comment in a bad way... they’re very tough to beat.”

At the end of lap 3, van Gisbergen put a dummy on Will Davison at Turn 6 for the race lead.

Davison was escorted wide by Todd Hazelwood at Turn 7, allowing Anton De Pasquale into second.

Van Gisbergen began to complain over the radio, but held De Pasquale at bay.

Van Gisbergen: "Battling a little bit."

#97 engineer: "Copy."

De Pasquale: “I don’t have enough turn. I'm close, but not close enough."

#11 engineer: "Good job, keep staying there, keep pushing. Thank you."

Van Gisbergen: "Yep, super loose mate, super loose."

#97 engineer: "You cop any more of that front roll-bar?"

Van Gisbergen: "Yeah."

De Pasquale was unable to clear van Gisbergen, and was within 0.3s of the #97 when the Shell pit wall brought him in.

Prior to the stop, De Pasquale had complained he didn't have enough front-end turn to mount a serious challenge to the #97.

The #11 Shell Mustang took on rear tyres; van Gisbergen then had a 1.5s gap on Hazelwood, with Davison also behind David Reynolds.

All the while, van Gisbergen complained of locking at Turns 1 and 2; Davison was brought in for rears two laps later.

The undercut worked for De Pasquale, with Davison less than a second behind on rejoin.

De Pasquale: “I’m hurting these front tyres sitting behind.”

#11 engineer: “In this lap, pit this lap.”

Van Gisbergen: “I’m a little bit worried, I’m pinching the right-front at [Turn] 1. Pinching the right-front at 1 a lot.”

#17 engineer: “Pit pit pit, don’t follow. Short stop. Front bar to 10, turning in.”

From there, van Gisbergen began to push; by lap 15, the margin to Hazelwood was 2.3s.

Hazelwood emerged behind both Shell Fords after his stop, released Reynolds into second.

Van Gisbergen’s push marched on, the reigning champion putting over two seconds on Reynolds in seven laps.

All the while, the two red Mustangs were line astern; Davison caught and hounded De Pasquale, but couldn't get past.

Van Gisbergen took on newer Super Soft rear tyres on lap 22, and emerged a comfortable leader.

The #97 ran unchallenged; Davison was 0.4s behind De Pasquale for several laps before they swapped positions with four laps to go.

It did little to deter van Gisbergen, who still crossed the line just 1.1s ahead of Davison.

It was the Kiwi's 58th career win, fourth of 2022 and 19th in 36 race since the 2020 Bathurst 1000.

Speaking after the race, former champion and broadcaster Marcos Ambrose claimed van Gisbergen had a “mental advantage”.

The driver himself, however, put it down to superior racecraft.

"I don’t think it’s mind games; I just think it’s hard racing and racecraft,” the 32-year-old explained.

"These guys [Davison and De Pasquale] are really good to race against.

"There are some smokies who keep appearing up on the grid, and you just have to be mindful and learn them.

"Nowadays [with] everyone up the front, it's really good racing."

Van Gisbergen will carry a 67-point lead over De Pasquale to Albert Park across April 7-10.