Van Gisbergen holding on to Supercars title defence dream

The Kiwi heads into his home round in New Zealand 189 points behind teammate Jamie Whincup, with Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard and Prodrive's Chaz Mostert splitting the Red Bull Holden pair.

While admitting that a second consecutive title is a long shot, van Gisbergen says he’s come out of the enduros determined to fight for the crown – despite publicly declaring as recently as pre-Gold Coast that he was ready to help Whincup's title bid.

“Things definitely twisted and turned for me as we went through Sandown, Bathurst and Gold Coast – not just me, a fair few of us actually,” wrote van Gisbergen in his latest Red Bull column.

“We had a different leader in the series after each one and while I wasn't one of them, how I feel about the championship has chopped and changed.

“There's four races to go and I'm 189 points off the lead with 600 still to play for, so it's still a long shot – but that's better than no shot.

“I'll need some help and it'd be handy if some of the other guys in front of me slip up a bit, but I'm still a chance, so we'll never give up and keep pushing until it's not possible.

“It's going to be very hard with how competitive the series is, but you never say never.

“To have three different guys in the lead of the championship after each of the enduros, that just shows you how good our series is at the moment.”

The penultimate round takes place at Pukekohe in New Zealand this weekend, before the season finale on the streets of Newcastle later this month.