Shane van Gisbergen: Supercars Champion Who Won on His NASCAR Cup Debut

Shane van Gisbergen is a New Zealand driver who became one of the most successful Supercars racers before moving to NASCAR. He won three Supercars titles and three Bathurst 1000 races, and in 2023 he won on his Cup debut at Chicago. His record also includes GT success and several NASCAR wins in 2025 and 2026.

Who is Shane van Gisbergen?

Shane Robert van Gisbergen was born on 9 May 1989 and is a New Zealand professional racing driver, also known by his initials, SVG. He races full-time in NASCAR's Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing, and he is best known for his years in the Supercars Championship with Triple Eight Race Engineering.

With 80 wins and 46 pole positions, he ranks fourth for victories in Supercars history. Among drivers, only he and Paul Morris have won all three of the main races held at Mount Panorama.

A three-time Supercars champion, he is also the first New Zealander to take a NASCAR Cup victory.

How did van Gisbergen begin racing in New Zealand?

Before single-seaters he raced motocross, quarter midgets and karts from 1998 until 2004. He then finished third in New Zealand's Formula First series for 2004/2005 and collected its Rookie of the Year prize. He had earlier won a Speedsport Star of Tomorrow Scholarship.

He took a victory in the 2005/06 Formula Ford series, won another Rookie of the Year prize, and then placed second in the 2006/07 Toyota Racing Series.

Later he took the 2014 BNT NZ Supertourers title, sharing the driving with Simon Evans. Across the endurance rounds he won seven of nine races, including a clean sweep of the Fuchs 500 weekend at Pukekohe Park Raceway.

In 2021 he won the New Zealand Grand Prix, part of the Toyota Racing Series. That year the event was limited to New Zealand drivers because of COVID-19, and he entered as a wildcard.

In 2023 he entered a South Island endurance event at Euromarque Motorsport Park, in a Brabham BT62 with co-driver and owner Dwayne Carter. A wheel came loose early in the three hour race, and the team completed more than 30 laps after returning before retiring.

What was van Gisbergen's Supercars career like?

He made his V8 Supercars debut with Team Kiwi Racing in 2007, becoming the 200th driver to line up for a race in that category. He then drove for Stone Brothers Racing from 2008 to 2012, with a best finish of fourth in the championship in 2011.

He moved to Tekno Autosports for 2013 and finished runner-up in 2014. A move to Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016 put him alongside Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, and that year he won the championship for the first time.

The 2016 season was a breakthrough. His first win for the team came at the Tasmania SuperSprint, and he took the Enduro Cup with Alexandre Premat, the first non-Australian pair to win it. At Pukekohe he became the first New Zealander to claim the title trophy, a prize that honours Jason Richards, who passed away from cancer in 2011. He won eight races that season.

In 2017 he and Whincup moved to the Red Bull Holden Racing Team. He opened his defence of the title with two wins at Adelaide but finished fourth in the championship.

The 2018 season brought more wins, including a Sydney SuperNight 300 victory and a near lights-to-flag win at Tailem Bend. A wheel-spin at a pit stop during the Auckland SuperSprint at Pukekohe went unpunished, a decision that drew considerable controversy at the time. At Newcastle, with the championship on the line, he won race 30 but was then handed a 25-second penalty for a refuelling breach, dropping him to fifth. Scott McLaughlin inherited the win, and van Gisbergen finished second in the points.

How did the Bathurst 1000 races go?

His Bathurst 1000 tally stands at three, from 2020, 2022 and 2023. In 2022 he shared the car with Garth Tander in what was the final race for Holden after GM closed the brand. A year later he won again with Richie Stanaway, driving for Triple Eight.

He was not always able to convert his pace. In 2009 he led until a pit stop when his car would not restart, which cost him a lot of time, and the fault was mechanical rather than a driving error. In 2014 he stalled with ten laps to go and the starter motor failed, which cost him an almost certain win, and he finished 16th after starting from pole.

What did van Gisbergen do in GT racing?

His GT work began with a guest co-drive in a team run by Tony Quinn, a sponsor of Tekno Autosports. In 2015 he raced a McLaren 650S GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series for Von Ryan Racing, winning two of the four races he entered.

In 2016 he moved to McLaren's Garage 59 team. He won the Blancpain Endurance Cup with Come Ledogar and Rob Bell, and their wins included the three-hour race at Monza and the Paul Ricard 1000 km. He skipped the final round at the Nurburgring because of a clash with a Supercars event.

At the 2016 Bathurst 12 Hour he was in one of Tekno's McLaren 650S GT3 cars, which had factory support. In qualifying he set the fastest officially recorded lap of Mount Panorama to take pole, then set the fastest race lap on his way to victory with Alvaro Parente and Jonathon Webb.

How did his NASCAR debut go in 2023?

In July 2023 van Gisbergen made his Cup debut for Trackhouse Racing in the No. 91 Chevrolet, at the Grant Park 220 in Chicago. He won the race, becoming the first driver in the modern era to win on Cup debut and the first New Zealander to win a Cup race.

He started third and grabbed the lead on lap 71, passing Justin Haley. A collision between Bubba Wallace and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. later sent the race into overtime, and he held on to win. He was also the first road-course outsider to win a Cup race since Mark Donohue in 1973.

His second start came at the Indianapolis road course, where he scored a second top-ten finish. He was the first driver since Terry Labonte in 1978 to open a Cup career with two top tens in his first two starts.

In August 2023 he also made his Truck Series and oval debut at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, driving the No. 41 for Niece Motorsports, and he finished 19th. In September Trackhouse announced that he would run part-time in all three national series in 2024.

What happened in 2024 with Xfinity and Cup?

In 2024 van Gisbergen ran full-time in the Xfinity Series for Kaulig Racing in the No. 97. He took his first two wins at Portland and Sonoma in consecutive weeks, and a third followed on his return to Chicago. He was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.

He also made select Cup starts that year, mostly in the No. 16. At Watkins Glen he led with a lap to go, but Chris Buescher passed him at the Bus Stop and he finished second. At the Charlotte Roval he earned his first Cup pole, led 21 laps and finished seventh.

Over twelve Cup starts that season he managed one top five, two top tens and one pole, with an average finish of 22.8.

What were his 2025 Cup and Xfinity seasons like?

In 2025 van Gisbergen was a full-time Cup driver for Trackhouse Racing, in the No. 88 Chevrolet. He won four races that year, at Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma and Watkins Glen, and he reached the playoffs.

The season began with a 33rd place at the Daytona 500, and he struggled through the regular season with only one top-ten finish in the first fifteen races. The Mexico City win came by sixteen seconds and earned him a playoff spot.

At Chicago he became the most successful non-American Cup winner of all time, and he was the second driver to take both the Xfinity and Cup races from pole in one weekend, after Kyle Busch at Indianapolis in 2016. Sonoma followed a week later, with pole positions in both series again.

A third win then equalled the rookie record for wins in a Cup season, shared with Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. A fourth came at Watkins Glen a month later, making him the winningest rookie in a single Cup season. He was eliminated after the Bristol playoff race, but he took a fifth straight road-course win at the Charlotte Roval.

He also drove the No. 9 car for JR Motorsports in a part-time Xfinity role. He won at Chicago after holding off teammate Connor Zilisch, and at Sonoma the next week he finished second after another battle with Zilisch.

What is van Gisbergen doing in 2026?

In 2026 van Gisbergen is in the No. 97 for a second full-time Cup campaign. He started with a 30th place at the Daytona 500 and then took his first win of the year at Watkins Glen. He also won at Sonoma, and he finished fifth at Nashville and fifth at North Wilkesboro.

In the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series he returned to the No. 9 for JR Motorsports, winning at Austin and Sonoma and becoming the winningest international-born driver in that series. He also made a Truck Series return at Watkins Glen for Niece Motorsports, where he finished third, and in May he was announced for Spire Motorsports, finishing third at North Wilkesboro.

What does the career summary show?

What is van Gisbergen's legacy?

A three-time Supercars champion, he is also the first New Zealander to take a NASCAR Cup victory. His record includes wins at Bathurst, endurance and GT racing titles, and a debut win in the Cup Series.

Among non-American drivers he has the most Cup wins, and he has won at both road courses and ovals there. In 2025 he married Jessica Dane, a program manager at Corvette Racing, whose father Roland Dane was also a co-owner at Triple Eight Race Engineering.