Van Gisbergen’s bold call on 400-race milestone

Shane van Gisbergen is typically frank when it comes to addressing his upcoming 400th Virgin Australia Supercars Championship race start.

The #97 Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver will chalk up the milestone at the opening race of the BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown this Saturday.

WATCH: SVG, MCLAUGHLIN BATTLE FOR LAP 1 LEAD

Asked what it means to him? “Nothing.”

“I guess it’s a cool number but yeah I don’t know, I’ve just been lucky,” van Gisbergen elaborated to Supercars.com.

“It’s been 10 or 11 years and I still realise how lucky I am to be able to do this full-time and still be in the best team. Racing up the front for so long, it’s awesome.

“But yeah, numbers mean nothing – hopefully I can do it for another 10 years.”

The fact van Gisbergen is just 31 years of age, there’s every chance of that happening.

Peers James Courtney and Alex Davison are both 40, the latter turning 41 in November.

If van Gisbergen races into his 40s, Craig Lowndes’ record for most race starts could come under threat, with that tally currently sitting at 667.

Hailing from New Zealand, van Gisbergen entered the sport as a fresh-faced teen, debuting for Team Kiwi Racing at Oran Park in 2007.

From there, he’s grown into a Supercars champion, not to mention picking up the prestigious Barry Sheene Medal for best and fairest last year.

“Obviously I was pretty young [when I started], I had only been racing for three years when I came over so I was very much a rookie,” van Gisbergen recalled.

“Then coming to the Australian series, it certainly was a level up.

“I thought I was good being a Formula Ford champion but everyone in Supercars is a Formula Ford champion. It’s a pretty high level.

“I think certainly the last sort of six years probably is where the biggest change is, when I started at Tekno and then at Triple Eight.

“I try to race for fun more now and doing all of the overseas stuff, I certainly enjoy my racing a lot more now than I used to.

“Not that I don’t take it serious, because I do, just if I don’t win a race it’s not the end of the world, there’s always going to be another one so yeah I just always try to keep learning, always having fun, but never take it too serious.”

Van Gisbergen is now into his fifth year at Triple Eight, having won the 2016 title to go with runner-up placings the past two seasons.

“It has gone pretty quick actually,” he said.

“It’s an awesome team. They’re the top team and their way of approaching racing really suits me: They know when to be serious and really put a lot of effort in and they know when to party as well.”

Van Gisbergen’s seventh in the 2020 standings heading into Darwin is affected by the late-race mechanical failure he had in Adelaide – without which he would likely be third overall.

Other milestones set to be achieved this coming weekend include Garry Jacobson's 50th race and Nick Percat's 100th round start.