Shane van Gisbergen won three races with multiple broken bones in Sandown. Image: Mark Horsburgh
With the Repco Supercars Championship halted mid-season due to the coronavirus, Speedcafe.com is taking a look at Triple Eight Race Engineering’s performance so far in 2021.
Championship of teams: 1
Driver championship: Shane van Gisbergen 1st, Jamie Whincup 2nd
Head-to-head qualification: Van Gisbergen 12, Whincup 7
Head to head race: Van Gisbergen 14, Whincup 5
If Shane van Gisbergen wins this year’s Supercars crown, the 2021 campaign will be remembered for the incredible circumstances in which he did so.
The Kiwi had an impressive streak of six races to start the season, much of which was achieved with a broken collarbone and broken ribs.
After starting the year with consecutive wins at Mount Panorama, Van Gisbergen returned to South East Queensland where he crashed his mountain bike.
Broken bones and ligament damage on his shoulder left the 2020 Bathurst 1000 winner struggling with severe pain in the second round of the series in Sandown.
Nonetheless, van Gisbergen took victory in all three races, of which he rose 16 places in a later race with Cameron Waters, Chaz Mostert and his teammate Jamie Whincup.
After taking pole positions for the following races and winning both, the 2016 champion seemed unstoppable.
His unbeaten run was finally ended by Red Bull stable mate Whincup, who took his first win of the season in Symmons Plains.
By and large, van Gisbergen was the dominant force. Even a comparatively lean streak in Tailem Bend earned him two podiums.
Van Gisbergen was in the top 10 in all but one race. In this case, when he failed, he should have taken victory only to have a wheel nut problem during a pit stop.
Van Gisbergen has a total of 11 wins from 19 races so far.
By the end of the 2021 season, the Kiwi could jeopardize his compatriot Scott McLaughlin’s single-season record of 18 race wins from 2019.
At the same point in the 2019 season, McLaughlin had 13 wins.
In Jamie Whincup’s swan season, the seven-time champion played second fiddle behind his teammate.
The 38-year-old has largely flown under the radar and is 276 points behind, 276 points behind the middle of the season.
Still there were podium places. So far he has eight to add to his one win. But that’s it; a victory. Now people like Mostert and Waters have two and three each.
Whincup is second in the drivers’ standings, but don’t be surprised if Waters and Mostert get up at the end of the season.
Team middle class mark: 9/10
Driver mid-season grades: Van Gisbergen 9.5 / 10, Whincup 7.5 / 10
