Robert van Gisbergen’s Bathurst joy

Among the tens of thousands unable to make their annual pilgrimage to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in 2020 was Shane van Gisbergen’s father, Robert.

A racer in his own right, 'RVG' has been the single biggest influence on his son’s career and a regular fixture in the paddock until this year’s COVID-19 induced restrictions.

Shane took a breakthrough Great Race victory on Sunday in his 14th start, ticking off the second of his two major career goals after winning the Supercars title in 2016.

“I’m just so pleased he’s finally won it,” Robert van Gisbergen told the Parked Up Podcast. “He’s had a few cracks at it and been bridesmaid a few times.

“I knew he was going to win one, one day. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there to witness it, but I was glued to the TV at home [in Manukau, New Zealand].

“It’s a great feeling having your boy win Bathurst, a really great feeling.”

Shane and Robert, pictured together in 2017

Others watching at the van Gisbergen home were a group of Robert’s friends and his son’s NZ-based personal sponsors, who “follow and love watching Shane”.

“I was tense from the word go, but once he got in front I felt comfortable. He’s very good at controlling the race and he controlled it very well,” he said.

“I’m quite proud of what he did. It’s not an easy thing to do, lead from the front when you’re under pressure. Cam [Waters] was extremely fast.”

Speaking in the post-race press conference, Shane declared the key to the win was “no mistakes” – a phrase often mentioned by the 31-year-old in interviews.

It was a mantra long drilled into him by the competitive and perfectionistic Robert, who Shane has previously described as his harshest critic, as well as biggest supporter.

“Shane won plenty of championships before he got to Supercars and even back then it was a thing about ‘no mistakes’,” said Robert.

“In Supercars you just can’t make one mistake, you’ve lost the race, where in lots of categories you can get away with the odd one and still come through.

“In this category, every driver has been a champion in some form of motorsport, so you can’t make a mistake. He learnt that a long time ago.”

Although based on the Gold Coast, Shane spends as much time in NZ as he can and is flying back to his homeland today, where he plans to spend the entire off-season.

Speaking on Monday, Shane expressed some pretty simple plans for his time at home: “I’m going to keep racing. I’ll do some rallying, speedway, motorbikes… racing everything.”

Van Gisbergen’s rallying plans include the ‘Battle of Jacks Ridge’ event in mid-November, where’ll he’ll compete against countryman and four-time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy.

"He always gives me shit for never winning this thing,” said van Gisbergen of Murphy on Sunday. “[Now I can] give it back to him!”