Van Gisbergen has one hand on the 2016 Supercars Championship trophy after scoring podium finishes in each of the four races in the ITM Auckland SuperSprint event.

A pair of second places coupled with one win and one third place result has seen the young New Zealander extend his championship lead over Red Bull Racing Australia Commodore driver and team-mate Jamie Whincup to a substantial 191 points.

Van Gisbergen also won the coveted Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, an award made in memory of former V8 Supercar driver and New Zealander Jason Richards who died from cancer in 2011 at the age of 35.

Van Gisbergen admitted to choking back tears as he greeted the flag to become the first New Zealand driver to win the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.

“…it was a pretty special thing to win this trophy, no Kiwi’s done it,” van Gisbergen said. “Jason – everyone was his friend, he was such a nice guy and, as I said the other day, when I was coming into the series, he was so welcoming and always encouraging.”

For much of the weekend van Gisbergen found himself in a straight fight with Whincup – the pair literally coming to blows in the third race as Whincup tapped van Gisbergen into a spin while trying to overtake his team-mate. Van Gisbergen recovered to finish third but Whincup ended up with a pitlane penalty and a rear-of-field result.

Whincup conceded he was at fault, and the pair were able to shake hands afterwards.  but the the penalty has severely hurt Whincup's quest to score a record seventh championship title.

Yet while van Gisbergen emerged from the penultimate round of the series with an enhanced points advantage, Whincup remains buoyant about his chances, saying that it’s not over ‘until the fat lady sings’.

“There’s still 300 points up for grabs,” he added.
 

“Absolutely it’s going to be hard work, but I’m not scared of a bit of a hard work.”

The 2016 Supercars Championship concludes at Homebush in Sydney with the running of the Coates Hire Sydney 500 on December 3-4.