Van Gisbergen opens up on nightmare race

Shane van Gisbergen is after an overnight reset after a torrid run to 20th in Adelaide.

Van Gisbergen started 25th and last for Saturday’s race, and quickly charged through the field.

The champion-elect collided with eventual winner Chaz Mostert at Turn 6 after a Safety Car restart.

Van Gisbergen dropped from fifth to 21st, and was forced to fight through once again.

However, he made an uncharacteristic error on lap 48 and crashed at Turn 11.

The #97 Red Bull Ampol Commodore suffered front-right damage, forcing van Gisbergen into the garage.

He finished 20th and 13 laps off the pace, his worst result since Darwin in June.

“I was pushing hard all race and obviously made a few mistakes today,” van Gisbergen said.

"Right from the start of the race the front roll bar was broken and was constantly dropping and dropping.

"The car was still handling itself okay, but I was pushing hard and things just didn’t quite work out.

"Sometimes you have to have a go, and I was really pushing hard.”

Van Gisbergen was perilously close to suffering his first DNF in 71 races — since Townsville 2020 — after the second incident.

Teammate Broc Feeney came home eighth, a result Feeney himself described as one of his “worst” races.

Van Gisbergen, who has toiled through an erroneous weekend, admitted he needs an overnight reset to finish the year strongly.

"Chaz and I came together at one point and I was worse off after the collision, but it is what it is,” he said.

"Later on, I made an error and just missed the turn, hit the marbles which were pretty bad out there and unfortunately, I hit the fence.

"We need a big reset overnight, I need to do better, be calmer and make sure the car is straight so we can do a better job tomorrow."

Cars will return on Sunday for ARMOR ALL Qualifying at 11:00am local time.

The 12:05pm Shootout will complete the grid for the 2:45pm Race 34.