Van Gisbergen impresses in final speedway starts

Shane van Gisbergen has signed off from his New Zealand speedway swing with a string of solid results.

Van Gisbergen has taken to speedways this summer in preparation for the 2023 Supercars season.

The 33-year-old piloted his United Truck Parts sprint car for one final outing this summer at Western Springs Speedway.

There, van Gisbergen put on his strongest showing yet, despite his feature race ending in drama.

The Western Springs appearance came in the week Richie Stanaway was announced as van Gisbergen's co-driver for the 2023 Supercars enduros.

Van Gisbergen started third of 10 runners for his first heat of the night, and ran third before dropping to fourth on the last lap.

He started from eighth for his second heat, and despite being held out wide on the start, was back to seventh on lap 2.

The two-time Bathurst winner then put on some bold moves before eventually finishing fourth.

Van Gisbergen started from pole for the feature race after the top six were inverted.

He was ultimately one of 13 drivers to DNF, with van Gisbergen caught up in an incident with a lapped car.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing star was second behind Daniel Thomas early on, and dropped to third after a restart.

Later contact with a lapped car saw van Gisbergen spin to the infield and retire from the race.

The feature was eventually won by Jamie McDonald, who led home Ryan O’Connor and Thomas.

Van Gisbergen will now head back to Australia ahead of the forthcoming LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour.

The 75-time Supercars race winner will share a Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG with Broc Feeney and 2021 DTM champion Maximilian Götz.

Van Gisbergen, Feeney and Götz form one of four all-Pro Mercedes-AMG line-ups for the February 3-5 Bathurst 12 Hour.

There are a combined 16 Pro or Pro-Am — eight Pro, eight Pro-Am — entries in this year’s race.

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Newcastle on March 10-12.

Tickets are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.