25 best Supercars drivers since 2000: #3 Shane van Gisbergen
As 2025 gets underway, Supercars.com is ranking the top 25 drivers of the last 25 years, continuing with Shane van Gisbergen, who comes in as our #3.
Arguably one of the most naturally gifted drivers to ever sit behind the wheel of a Supercar, Shane van Gisbergen developed into one of the fastest, most versatile racing drivers on the planet.
Plucked from open-wheelers in his native New Zealand at just 18, van Gisbergen made his debut at a wet Oran Park in 2007 at the wheel of a Team Kiwi Racing Falcon.
A move to Stone Brothers Racing under the tutelage of countrymen Ross and Jimmy Stone saw van Gisbergen start to turn heads with some impressive performances - especially in the wet, and some remarkable saves.
A messy split from SBR and short-lived retirement was a precursor to a move to Tekno Autosport for 2013, where he started to become a serious contender in Triple Eight-built Commodores.
It was stint at the factory Triple Eight team, however, that saw the Kiwi become an unstoppable force in the category, winning everything there is to win in Supercars before embarking on a new adventure in NASCAR.
Shane van Gisbergen's key stats since 2000
Years active: 2007-2023
Rounds: 227
Races: 511
Best championship position: 1st (2016, 2021, 2022)
Best finish: 1st (80 wins)
Top three finishes: 178
Best start: 1st (48 pole positions)
Best Bathurst result: 1st (2020, 2022, 2023)
The highlight
Off the back of three consecutive wins at Bathurst (at the 2020 Great Race and a sweep of the 2021 season-opening 500km event), van Gisbergen was odds on favourite to win the 2021 championship at a canter.
However, in the gap between the Mount Panorama 500 and the second event at Sandown, van Gisbergen would break his collarbone in a mountain bike accident, with the Kiwi no certainty to drive at the punishing Sandown circuit.
It was only after turning his first laps in Friday practice that standby Garth Tander was told he wouldn't be required, though a disappointing qualifying performance of 17th brought many questions as to whether the right decision had been made.
Van Gisbergen would emphatically answer that question with the drive of his life, charging through the pack in the 36 lap Saturday sprint showing the ruthless racecraft he became known for in his latter Supercars career.
His charge included a nifty bit of opportunism to overtake both teammate Whincup and Chaz Mostert in one audacious dive into the Turn 2/3 chicane, where overtaking a single car is a difficult task.
Van Gisbergen's stunning Sandown charge was made even more remarkable when further scans following the weekend showed that he had broken three ribs in the mountain bike accident.
The win would kick off another weekend of dominance for van Gisbergen, who won the two Sunday races and the opener in Tasmania the following event to go six from six and march to a points lead that wouldn't be ceded.
Why we picked him
Van Gisbergen's natural ability and car control was plain to see almost immediately in Supercars, claiming 13th in an uncompetitive Team Kiwi Racing entry in just his second start in the category.
What also became apparent was that he wasn't afraid to mix it with the superstars at the front of the field, with an iconic duel with Jamie Whincup at Surfers Paradise in 2010 a first real glimpse of his fearlessness.
As he gained more experience, his fearlessness developed into a ruthlessness, with his last three years in Supercars from 2021-2023 one of the most dominant periods of any driver in Supercars history.
14 wins in 30 races in 2021, 22 wins in 34 races in 2022, and a Bathurst 1000 win (plus four other wins) in 2023, all the stars aligned for van Gisbergen, who formed a mostly unbeatable partnership with engineer Andrew Edwards in 2022.
Van Gisbergen's tried and tested method of shortening his final tyre stint led to several spellbinding charges through the pack that only a driver of his qualities could perform.
The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of Supercars, teams or drivers.
