Shane van Gisbergen Wins Final Bathurst 1000 As Full-Timer

Shane van Gisbergen ran away with Sunday's Bathurst 1000, building a lead of nearly 30 seconds on championship rival Brodie Kostecki to take the win alongside Triple Eight Racing co-driver Richie Stanaway. It is van Gisbergen's third win in Australia's biggest motor race, but first since announcing his plans to chase a NASCAR dream with Trackhouse Racing.

Jamie Whincup, van Gisbergen's former full-time teammate and the current team principal at Triple Eight Racing, led the early running against a field mostly starting with other co-drivers. Van Gisbergen cycled into the lead early in his first stint, but still held a narrow lead on his teammate and Kostecki. Whincup and Broc Feeney's car eventually retired with a transmission issue, while Kostecki and his Erebus co-driver David Russell were slowed by a steering issue in the final stint. That opened the door for van Gisbergen to pull away and win by nearly half a minute, all while dealing with a break wear issue of his own.

Van Gisbergen still sits second in the championship, 131 points behind Kostecki with 600 points left available over the next two race weekends. While the pair's domestic rivalry ends when van Gisbergen heads to America to begin his NASCAR career next season, they should race again in the U.S. as Kostecki is expected to enter a handful of NASCAR races with his Australian team Erebus Motorsport. They may race again in Australia, too: When asked about the end of his time racing in Australia in a post-race interview, van Gisbergen said "I'll be back one day, probably."

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