Shane van Gisbergen

Shane van Gisbergen narrowly missed out on winning the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship for a second time last year.

The Kiwi claimed the title in 2016, his first season with Triple Eight, and after an up-and-down '17 fell just short in the fierce '18 fight against Scott McLaughlin.

It is now more than a decade since van Gisbergen burst onto the Supercars scene with Team Kiwi in the middle of 2007.

During a torrentially-wet weekend at Oran Park, he finished 13th in one race and set the third-fastest lap in another.

Stone Brothers Racing became Van Gisbergen’s home in 2008, continuing to demonstrate brilliant car control in the wet.

As he matured, performances became far more consistent and he teetered on the brink of victory until breaking through on some soil at the Hamilton street circuit in 2011.

He left SBR at the end of 2012 in controversial circumstances as it was due to become Erebus Motorsport, linking with Tekno Autosports.

Van Gisbergen took his first win driving a Holden on his Tekno debut in Adelaide in 2013, winning nine over his three-year tenure and finishing runner-up to Jamie Whincup in the '14 championship.

Since joining Triple Eight, van Gisbergen has also won a PIRTEK Enduro Cup and the Jason Richards Trophy.

He continues to build an impressive record in sportscar racing that includes winning the 2016 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup with McLaren.