Shane van Gisbergen was focusing on the positives after a second podium finish in as many days at the final round of the 2011 V8 Supercar series in Sydney yesterday.
Despite finally being denied third place in the series points standings - and with it the honour of being thefirst Ford driver home - by yesterday's race winner Mark Winterbottom, van Gisbergen could hardly have had a better final round, finishing third behind Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander in the first 74 lap/250km race of the weekend on Saturday and third again in the second 74 lap/250km race - this time behind Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes - yesterday.
In both cases luck played a part - on Saturday when Michael Caruso ran out of petrol on the last lap, and on Sunday when Will Davidson, Paul Dumbrell and Lee Holdsworth crashed in the dying stages of the race - but if van Gisbergen hadn't been right behind on both occasions he wouldn't have been able to take advantage.
The result was that he cemented fourth place in the series points standings behind Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes and Mark Winterbottom and in front of Garth Tander, Rick Kelly and Will Davison and easily retained his "top Kiwi'' status.
It wasn't as if he somehow remained immune from the carnage that was happening around him either.
On Saturday the regular appearance of the Safety Car compromised his pit strategy and on Sunday he struggled with suspension and exhaust system damage.
"We bent a roll bar quite early, then we broke the exhaust when Will Davison went past us so it was like driving a Massey Ferguson for the last two laps, but I'm happy to get third. Bring on 2012,'' he said.
Final series points: 1 Jamie Whincup 3168 2 Craig Lowndes 3133 3 Mark Winterbottom 2710 4 Shane Van Gisbergen (SP Tools Ford Falcon) 2672 5 Garth Tander 2574 6 Rick Kelly 2358 7 Will Davison 2345 8 Lee Holdsworth 1920 9 Tim Slade 1904 10 James Courtney 1869
