Van Gisbergen: I'd be “killing myself” if I settled for second at Bathurst

The Kiwi finished second alongside co-driver Alex Premat at Mount Panorama yesterday, falling just 0.2s short of overhauling winner Will Davison in the thrilling closing stages of the race.

But while second place was enough to give van Gisbergen a handy points break over teammate Jamie Whincup, who was classified in 11th thanks to a controversial 15-second penalty, van Gisbergen swears he was pushing as hard as he could at the finish, and not thinking about the championship.

“I definitely gave it a shot trying to win that race, but it’s pretty cool to come second,” he said.

“I’d be killing myself for two weeks if I settled for second. If you look at the last 10 laps, I was giving it everything I have.

“I’ve always said I wouldn’t think about the championship until after Gold Coast. I’ll be pushing as hard as I can at the Gold Coast. There’s no point conserving, I’m trying to accumulate as many points as possible.”

Fuel-saving frustration

He may have been pushing at the end, but van Gisbergen admitted that he spent much of the race in fuel-saving mode, making it frustrating going until the final stint.

“I didn’t do a lap flat-out until after the last Safety Car, we were just saving fuel all day,” he said.

“We were doubled stacked three times or something. So it was pretty tough from out end. We had pretty good speed, we just kept getting put behind.”

Van Gisbergen leads Whincup by 139 points after Bathurst, with Craig Lowndes now more than a full round behind in third.

The margin between the top two is not set in stone, though. Whincup’s crew has appealed the 15-second penalty, which means he could still be crowned the Bathurst 1000 champion and be reinstated with the 300 points.