Van Gisbergen impresses in Australian rally debut

Supercars points leader Shane van Gisbergen has made an impressive start to his rally campaign in Canberra.

Van Gisbergen, who won all three races in Tasmania last weekend, is making his maiden Australian Rally Championship start.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver is competing in a Red Bull-backed Skoda at the Netier National Capital Rally.

The rally is opening the 2022 RSEA Safety Motorsport Australian Rally Championship season.

Van Gisbergen has previous off-road experience; notably, he won the 2020 Battle of Jacks Ridge event in New Zealand.

Through the opening three stages on Saturday, van Gisbergen was third overall.

Bates brothers Harry and Lewis, both aboard Toyotas, were first and second through the opening swing.

Harry Bates, who also won the 2019 title, took out last year's Capital Rally.

Van Gisbergen also proved faster than former Australian rally champions Eli Evans and Nathan Quinn.

The 58-time Supercars race winner still managed to leap to third overall despite an error on Stage 3.

Brendan Reeves managed to claw back time in SS4 and beat van Gisbergen by seven seconds.

Through five stages, van Gisbergen was second behind Harry Bates, with Lewis Bates stopping during SS5.

Evans was 24 seconds behind van Gisbergen in third, with Reeves, Taylor Gill and Jamie Luff filling positions four through six.

"Pretty awesome, and we're going quite well," he told the broadcast after SS3.

"I didn't expect to be this far up... we were going a bit conservative in the first two [stages].

"I made a pretty decent error in [the third stage] and went through some trees, but no damage.

"I'm feeling like I'm under the limit in most areas... tricky stages.

"Glen [Weston, co-driver] is the second driver for sure, he's doing as much as me in there."

There will be two more stages on Saturday, with the rally to conclude with six stages on Sunday.

Van Gisbergen will carry his Supercars points lead to Albert Park next weekend.