Championship win SVG's "goal in life"

Jet-setting kiwi Shane van Gisbergen has declared winning the V8 Supercars Championship his top priority as he assesses contract options for 2016.

Widely considered one of the most talented and flamboyant drivers in the field, the young gun's agreement with TEKNO Autosports ends at the conclusion of the season and he is one of the key players in a hot driver market.

The 2014 runner-up is only 25-years of age, but with seven full seasons in V8 Supercars and nine race wins to his name, van Gisbergen will be a major factor on and off the track this year, one of a list including Craig Lowndes, Fabian Coulthard, David Reynolds and James Moffat in search of new V8 Supercars deals.

While it is early in the year to discuss movements for next season, van Gisbergen and his father Robert, who acts as his manager, have heard the chatter in pit lane, which arguably kicked off when Jamie Whincup took himself out of the game and extended with Triple Eight until 2018 last month.

"My contract is up, but it's only March and we've only had the first race, so there's a lot of time to go yet," van Gisbergen told v8supercars.com.au.

"I'm really happy where I am at the moment with the team, sponsors and how fast the car is. But I don't know - it's only March and we just had the first race."

While fans have seen van Gisbergen compete on the world stage outside of his commitment to V8 Supercars in renowned events such as the Daytona and Spa 24-hour races, he has again reinforced that wrestling the title from Jamie Whincup is his absolute priorityas a driver.

"My goal in life [is] to race V8 Supercars and win it," van Gisbergen said.

"I'd never go overseas full-time before I won the Aussie Championship... I'd rather finish that goal.

"But doing all the [international] races I think helps me as a driver, so I'm still trying to push to do as many races as I can."

Team bosses Jonathon Webb and Steve Hallam agree that van Gisbergen's extra-curricular activities have helped him raise his game on the V8 Supercars circuit, recently praising his maturity.

Plenty of focus has been on the Darrell Lea driver's choice to hand the lead of the Clipsal 500 back to James Courtney, after van Gisbergen nudged the Holden Racing Team Commodore on his way through.

And for the young driver, an element of flexibility is important for him, oncehis commitments to V8 Supercars are fulfilled.

"For me I like the freedom of being able to do big races overseas, go drifting in New Zealand and stuff like that," he said.

"If I stay at TEKNO or a different team - as long as I can keep doing my other racing. I do it because it helps me, as a driver, get better. As long as I can keep doing that I'm happy."

Van Gisbergen is managed by his father Robert, and describes himself as family oriented.

"We just go about it as we do, we've only had to change teams once so far so it's been pretty easy going," he said of the management side of things.

"I don't know, we'll see what happens - but for now we've got to keep pushing and developing our team, and push for good results this year."

Van Gisbergen currently sits fourth in the Championship points after the first event of the 2015 season. Since joining TEKNO for the 2013 season - and winning on debut at the Clipsal 500 - the young kiwi has further firmed as a title threat.

After scoring ARMOR ALL Pole Position at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 last year, he and team boss Jonathon Webb were a real shot at a win before a heartbreaking mechanical failure.

Van Gisbergen won five Championship races last year, including the last of the season in torrential conditions - he is renowned as a wet weather specialist, though he insists he dislikes racing in the rain.