Van Gisbergen's cheeky parity dig

The Triple Eight driver snared his 19th win of the season with a dominant run to victory at the Repco Bathurst 1000 alongside co-driver Garth Tander.

Van Gisbergen’s domination of the 2022 season has seen the New Zealander surpass the previous record set by countryman and now Penske IndyCar star Scott McLaughlin in 2019.

When asked about beating the record, Van Gisbergen made a cheeky dig given the previous record was set during a campaign plagued by tumultuous season dominated by a parity debate, triggered by the launch of the Ford Mustang Supercar.

Van Gisbergen did admit breaking the record was a notable achievement, labelling it as "pretty special".

“I might upset some people but it is pretty special thing to do it without all the calls of parity and stuff,” said van Gisbergen.

“It makes me feel like as a team we have done such a good job and I feel like we are not the best in qualifying and we are not the fastest car, but in the races we seem to execute it.

“Working with Andrew [Edwards] this year, he has been fantastic, and when we are under pressure and things are not so good the way he tunes the car up, and along with the rest of the engineering group I think we are in a pretty special place at the moment.

“Obviously is is going to change next year and be a lot more difficult, but this year has been very cool.”

Van Gisbergen’s record breaking feat is the highlight of a remarkable fortnight that started with the Kiwi scoring a WRC2 podium on his World Rally Championship debut at Rally New Zealand.

The 33-year-old, competing in only his fifth competitive rally, finished third in class. It comes off the back of a maiden appearance at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

Reflecting on his hectic two weeks, he believes the extra curricular activities have proved to be beneficial this year.

“I’m good. Right from Thursday I felt on it in the car,” he added.

“I’m driving so much it just keeps you sharper I think. When I don’t drive for two or three weeks you jump back in a car and everything is happening fast.

“I feel like all this driving makes me better driver. There is some risk especially with the rally stuff, but I think it makes me a lot better.”