V8 Supercars: Van Gisbergen in hot form for Hampton Downs

Simon Evans (left) and Shane van Gisbergen celebrate their win at Taupo.

Shane Van Gisbergen is in red-hot form as he heads to this weekend's TR Group Waikato 400 at Hampton Downs, round two of the 2014-15 BNT NZ SuperTourers championship, Nov 1-2.

Van Gisbergen teamed up with his old friend and fellow Aucklander, Simon Evans, to dominate the first round of the championship at Taupo in September, and they start as clear favourites for the second endurance round in Evans' Holden.

In between the two New Zealand events Van Gisbergen again showed his great speed and car control on Australasia's main V8 stage, the 1000km race on the Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst and the Gold Coast 600 over the weekend - where he achieved a pole position and race win.

At Bathurst he qualified on pole, broke the lap record and was leading near the end - till the final pit-stop, when his Holden stalled and would not restart because of a starter motor failure. After losing three laps, he finished 16th but retained fourth place in the V8 Supercar championship.

"We had a fantastic car at the end, so I'm pretty gutted really," he said after the race.

And Evans is now one of the top resident Kiwi drivers, as he proved when he made the break that set up the duo's victory in race one at Taupo, so the pair will be hard to beat.

But Van Gisbergen is not the only young Kiwi to make an impression at Bathurst. Hamilton's Ant Pedersen and Aucklander Andre Heimgartner, who stand second and third respectively in the New Zealand championship, were on course to finish sixth till they also hit a late setback, a miscalculation by the crew forcing them to stop for extra fuel right at the end.

In the BNT NZ SuperTourers endurance rounds, Pedersen shares his Ford with former A1GP hero Jonny Reid while Heimgartner's co-driver for his Holden is Aussie veteran Paul Morris, who won Bathurst with Chaz Mostert.

Reigning champion Greg Murphy needs to get back to the top of the podium as he and Aussie Jack Perkins failed to finish the first race at Taupo, their Holden damaged by contact with another car. Murphy and James Courtney, racing for the Holden Racing Team, had finished second in the Sandown 500, the lead-up event for Bathurst, but setbacks in the big race left them 13th at the end.

More Australian V8 Supercar drivers join the fray with Cameron Waters (co-driving with Mitch Cunningham), Steve Owen (Tim Edgell), Tony D'Alberto (Angus Fogg) and Dale Wood (Dominic Storey) all crossing the Tasman for the weekend.

"The level of competition in the BNT NZ SuperTourers is very high," Heimgartner says.

The Hampton Downs meeting will put an extra emphasis on teams' strategy decisions as the long races will require fuel stops. The timing of these stops could make a big difference to the outcome of these races, especially if there are safety-car periods.

Saturday sees one 40-minute race and Sunday two races of 75 minutes each.