How 0.2s set up 155 wins and seven titles

The Gold Coast’s closest and most thrilling finish seemed as much at the time.

However, few could have predicted it would set the tone for the next decade, and some.

Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen are household names now, but in 2010, were at very different ends to their careers.

To the Sunday race on the Gold Coast, which will host next weekend’s races, van Gisbergen had just eight top three finishes to his name.

Whincup had two titles and 41 wins, and was battling for the crown with James Courtney.

The now retired Whincup was an established star, but van Gisbergen had shown glimpses of his burgeoning talent from his 2007 debut.

Van Gisbergen, then 21, was on Whincup’s tail with a handful of laps to go.

It was the first year of the dual 300km race format, and international stars had been invited.

However, Whincup was again the one to beat, although for the first time, had to battle van Gisbergen.

Whincup won out by just 0.2s, denying van Gisbergen and Stone Brothers Racing a famous win.

Van Gisbergen would have to wait until April 2011, on home soil no less, to finally win.

At the time, van Gisbergen’s talent was obvious, but he was still an untamed force.

The forecasts about the Kiwi came true; after that Gold Coast battle, Whincup and van Gisbergen forged the two most successful careers from that point.

In the 378 races following that battle, Whincup (82 wins) and van Gisbergen (73) combined for 155 victories and seven titles.

Whincup added five more titles to his 2008 and 2009 victories, and van Gisbergen two.

Next weekend, at the same circuit he was pipped by Whincup 12 years ago, van Gisbergen is in line to make it No. 3.

It was that battle on the Surfers streets which unlocked van Gisbergen’s prowess, and foreshadowed their time as Triple Eight teammates.

Since he joined Triple Eight in 2016, no one has won more races (62 out of 203) than van Gisbergen.

"I do remember that one as being quite tough," van Gisbergen recounted in the years following.

"Jamie was pushing quite hard I think too, his car was moving around a lot… It was the first time I’d really raced him.

"He’d always been ahead of me, so to battle him for the lead, I think at that time I was pretty stoked to be pushing him.

"To give him a run at a street circuit where he’s always so strong as well, was pretty cool.”

Van Gisbergen’s first major move came on lap 96 of 102 when he tried up the inside of Turn 4.

Whincup maintained the lead, but into the final lap, van Gisbergen had an overlap.

The images of the two cars going line astern down the pit straight are perhaps the battle’s most memorable.

SBR hadn’t won a race since 2008, and they were pushing the young Kiwi all the way.

Both cars went straight through the chicane and there was contact, and it was the Vodafone Commodore that emerged ahead.

Van Gisbergen later admitted he simply braked too late, with Whincup also running long.

"I think I passed him and I braked too late down the straight there,” van Gisbergen said of the final lap.

“We both didn’t make the chicane, and I didn’t pass him fairly.

"It was quite good, our car.

"I wanted to put a good one in for the team there. It would’ve been a good way to win my first race at that one.”

Van Gisbergen would go on to win four races on the Surfers streets, first in 2014 and 2015 with Tekno.

He added a 2016 win with Triple Eight en route to the title.

The Aucklander will arrive next weekend as the most recent winner, having won the 2019 Sunday race with Garth Tander.

Van Gisbergen and Tander combined to win the Repco Bathurst 1000, with van Gisbergen just 33 points away from a third title.