FANTASY NASCAR Racin

Shane van Gisbergen was born to race. From pestering his Dad Robert to buy him a Suzuki ATV at the tender age of five, to signing - at just 17 years of age - a contract to race V8 Supercars for top Ford team Stone Brothers Racing, the constant in his life has been competition. Raised on the rural fringe of New Zealand's largest city Auckland, Shane spent his formative years racing ATVs on natural terrain Motocross tracks and a Quarter Midget on speedway ovals; before a brief but typically successful dalliance with karts and then a year in the Formula First class courtesy New Zealand's SpeedSport magazine Scholarship program saw his focus turn to tarmac. After competing in Motocross, Quarter Midgets and karts from 1998 to 2004, van Gisbergen placed third in the 2004/2005 New Zealand Formula First Championship and won the associated Rookie of the Year award. Since then he has been on a fast track to major league Australasian success, winning the New Zealand Formula Ford championship in 2006 and finishing a close second to teammate Daniel Gaunt in the Toyota Racing Series in 2007.

Driving for Team Kiwi Racing, van Gisbergen became the 200th driver to start a race in a V8 Supercar at the Jim Beam 400 at Oran Park Raceway in Round 8 of 2007. Having impressed in his 2007 races, van Gisbergen was picked up by Stone Brothers Racing in 2008. He continued with the team for five seasons until 2012. In late 2012, he announced he would be leaving V8 Supercars, but in January it emerged that he was moving to Tekno Autosports at the start of the 2013 season. Van Gisbergen faced legal action for breaking his contract with Stone Brothers Racing. The move to Tekno proved fruitful, with

van Gisbergen finishing runner-up in the championship in 2014. He moved to Triple Eight in 2016 as teammate to Whincup and Craig Lowndes and scored Holden’s 500th championship race win at Symmons Plains among seven race victories, plus he claimed the Enduro Cup with Alex Prémat and the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy at Pukekohe on his way to his first Supercars title. Van Gisbergen won on debut with his new team and contended for the title the following season, eventually finishing runner-up to future teammate Jamie Whincup. In 2018, van Gisbergen won both Race 1 and Race 2 at Adelaide, driving a Holden Commodore ZB. (For those unaccustomed in Europe the "Holden" is what they call the "Chevrolet" brand. At Newcastle in 2018, van Gisbergen was handed a 25-second post-race penalty following an investigation into

a refueling breach at his third pitstop. Scott McLaughlin was declared the winner of the race. Van Gisbergen finished second at race 31 and in the points standings. He remained a regular contender in the years that followed and broke through for a Bathurst 1000 win in 2020, but finished off the Gen2 era with two of the most dominant seasons in ATCC/Supercars Championship history. Van Gisbergen romped to the 2021 title off the back of 14 wins and 23 podiums from 30 races, including a streak of seven victories to start the season – a period where he also posted extracurricular triumphs in the New Zealand Grand Prix, GT World Challenge and Bathurst 6 Hour. His early-season haul was all the more impressive given van Gisbergen broke a collarbone and cracked three ribs in a

successful racing driver in the Supercars Championship history. He has won the Bathurst 1000 three times, in 2020, 2022, and 2023. He and Paul Morris are the only drivers to have won all three major car racing events at Mount Panorama: the Bathurst 1000, Bathurst 6 Hour and Bathurst 12 Hour. In May, 2023, it was announced that van Gisbergen would make his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series driving the #91 Chevrolet for Track House Racing and its Project 91 program at the inaugural event at the Chicago Street Course. He started third but was shuffled back to mid-pack after a pileup the lap before the completion of the second stage. Van Gisbergen took the

lead on lap 71 from Justin Haley and went on to claim the win. The first time a drive had won in his first Cup start in 60 years. He is also the first New Zealander to win in the Cup series and only the sixth driver born outside the United States to claim a Cup win. Van Gisbergen would run one other road course race in the Cup series in 2023 when he raced the road course at Indianapolis. He finished 10th. He made a start in the NASCAR Truck series racing at Indianapolis Raceway Park. It was a major difference running an oval track and was used as a learning experience. He started 28th and 19th. It was announced that van Gisbergen announced he had signed with Trackhouse Racing to drive races across three different NASCAR series in 2024.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

SHANE ROBERT VANGISBERGEN - 05/09/1989