Kiwi ace Shane van Gisbergen sizzles to Bathurst lap record

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Kiwi ace Shane van Gisbergen sizzles to Bathurst lap record

By Mark Fogarty
Updated

V8 Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen is used to causing excitement on the track, but even he was impressed by the buzz created when he set the fastest lap ever of Bathurst's Mount Panorama.

Renowned for his exuberant driving and pacesetting speed, vanGisbergen won pole position for Sunday's Bathurst 12 Hour with the first officially recorded lap of under two minutes, two seconds around the daunting 6.2km hillside circuit.

Running hot: Shane van Gisbergen led the way at  Mount Panorama.

Running hot: Shane van Gisbergen led the way at Mount Panorama. Credit: Mark Horsburgh

He will line-up for the start of Australia's longest race ahead of a big field of GT sports cars contesting what has become a major endurance event on the international calendar.

Driving his McLaren 650S to its limit in the final qualifying session on Saturday, van Gisbergen set the quickest time of two minutes, 1.286 seconds to head a blitz on the lap record by the top eight qualifiers.

"The car's awesome," he said. "It was pretty awesome to see that time come up on the dash [instrument display]. The car is good in every sector [of the track] and that's what you need to be quick around here."

Van Gisbergen is sharing the factory-supported McLaren with his former V8 team boss Jonathon Webb, whose Tekno Autosports squad has formed a GT racing alliance with the British sports car maker. He has joined record six-time V8 champion Jamie Whincup and evergreen veteran Craig Lowndes at an expanded Triple Eight Holden team, with which he will make his racing debut in the March 4-6 Adelaide 500.

The mercurial New Zealander secured pole position for the 12 Hour by just over half a second from German GT sports car ace Rene Rast, who is sharing his Audi R8 LMS with three-time Bathurst 1000 winner Garth Tander.

Van Gisbergen bettered the outright track qualifying lap record by 1.2 seconds to officially become the fastest man ever around Mount Panorama – a feat that was hailed all along the pit lane.

The excited reaction of fellow competitors and spectators was reminiscent of the response to popular V8 driver and fellow Kiwi Greg Murphy's famous "Lap Of The Gods" to win pole position for the 2003 Bathurst 1000. Murphy thundered around Mount Panorama in the then stunning time of two minutes, 6.085 seconds.

It has since been eclipsed by the V8s, with Fabian Coulthard setting a new V8 qualifying lap record of two minutes, 5.60 seconds last October.

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