Victory in the last race of the 2016 Australian Supercars Championship for Shane van Gisbergen capped off what has been an unprecedented year of success for the young New Zealander.

Van Gisbergen put in a masterful display in Sunday’s leg of the Coates Hire Sydney 500 to claim the win over fellow Holden drivers Garth Tander and David Reynolds.

But that victory was just the icing on the cake of an extraordinary winning season for the 27-year-old.

It was van Gisbergen’s eighth win of the Supercars season in what was also the final race to be held at the Sydney Olympic Park street circuit. Van Gisbergen is also the first New Zealander to win the title since Jim Richards in 1991.

With Red Bull Racing team-mate and six-times Australian Supercars champion Jamie Whincup ending up fourth in the final race, van Gisbergen extended his final winning margin in the championship to a commanding 200 points.

The new champion’s celebrations were kept short as van Gisbergen prepared for the following weekend’s Sepang 12 Hour in which he is to drive a McLaren GT3 sports car.

Van Gisbergen has divided his time between Australian Supercars and sports car racing this year and has achieved enormous success in both fields.

Earlier in the year he won the Bathurst 12 Hour in a McLaren before claiming victory in the Blancpain GT Endurance Series Cup. Locally, in addition to his Supercars crown, he also won the PIRTEK Enduro Cup.