Model of consistency: SVG on par with Whincup, McLaughlin
Shane van Gisbergen’s march to the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship crown has been one of the most consistent in history.
Van Gisbergen clinched the 2021 drivers’ championship with a round to spare in Sydney last weekend.
To next weekend’s season-ending Repco Bathurst 1000, van Gisbergen has a chance to add to his already impressive numbers.
The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver has won 14 races, and will head to Bathurst as both the reigning Great Race winner and most recent race winner at Mount Panorama.
Van Gisbergen swept the season-opening Repco Mt Panorama 500 in February.
The 32-year-old scored 23 podiums in 29 starts, and finished in the top 10 in 27 of the races.
They make for remarkable numbers; van Gisbergen has spent 93 per cent of 2021 in the top 10, and 78 per cent on the podium.
In 13 seasons since podiums were recognised for single races, van Gisbergen’s 2021 campaign is on par to Jamie Whincup’s dominant 2012 season, and Scott McLaughlin’s ultra-consistent 2018 season.
Whincup finished 28 of 30 races in 2012 in the top 10, and was on the podium in 24 of them.
The two races van Gisbergen failed to finish in the top 10 were due to circumstances out of his hands.
Whincup was supreme in 2012
He suffered a botched pit stop in the Darwin opener and finished 13th, and was classified 23rd in Race 25 in Sydney after he copped a penalty over a pit lane infringement.
In 2012, Whincup was taken out by Will Davison in a dramatic Phillip Island crash, and dropped down the field in Sydney due to a puncture.
In 2018, McLaughlin won his first title having finished in the top 10 29 times in 30 starts.
That season, McLaughlin missed out at Albert Park after starting from pole in a dry-wet thriller; he went off early, before gambling to change to wet tyres. Scott Pye won the race.
The 2021 season is the fifth in 13 seasons to see a driver clinch the title with a round to spare, and the third in succession.
McLaughlin was unflappable in 2018
Whincup clinched the 2012 and 2014 titles with one round remaining, before McLaughlin sealed the 2019 and 2020 titles at the penultimate round.
Van Gisbergen will officially be crowned champion in Bathurst next month.
The 2021 Repco Supercars Championship and Dunlop Series seasons will conclude at the Repco Bathurst 1000.
Every session of the event will be broadcast live on Foxtel (Fox Sports 506) and streamed on Kayo.
The Seven Network will provide live free to air coverage of the event. Tickets for the event are on sale now.
