New Zealand’s brightest young motor racing talent, Shane Van Gisbergen, gave the International Motorsport team a winning end to their Toyota Racing Seriaes season with an emphatic win in the final race of the 2006/07 championship at the Placemakers V8 Supercar meeting at Pukekohe’s Pukekohe Park Raceway today.

The precociously talented Van Gisbergen was the dominant force in the Toyota Racing Series class at the three-day meeting, setting the fastest lap time in qualifying, the fastest race lap in the first race then putting a sensational move on early leader Andy Knight to win the second race and with it the coveted New Zealand Motor Cup.

The only flaw in an otherwise perfect weekend was in the first race when, while lying second, the 17-year-old from Auckland’s Manukau City was forced to pit when a piece of his car’s bodywork started rubbing on a rear tyre.

With the overall series title already in teammate Daniel Gaunt’s hands after the penultimate round of the 2006/07 season in March, the interest in this weekend’s series finale at Pukekohe was in the battle between Van Gisbergen and Wellington driver Ben Harford for second place in the championship.

Van Gisbergen got the better start to the weekend with pole position, but Harford was able to close the gap when he finished third behind Knight and Gaunt in race one, Van Gisbergen able to rejoin the race but finish in 14th position.

The young International Motorsport driver remained in front heading into this morning’s 16 lap race but had to finish to ensure that his team retained first and second place in the overall points standings.

An on-form Andy Knight was again quicker off the line but any thoughts that Van Gisbergen might play a percentages game were blown out the window at the end of Pukekohe’s long back straight when the 17-year-old series rookie pulled off one of the season’s best moves with a dramatic round the outside pass for the lead as he and Knight braked for the hairpin.

Knight yielded and Van Gisbergen pulled away to win by just over half a second with Gaunt third and Wanganui’s Earl Bamber fourth.

Harford had been running strongly in fourth but was a late withdrawal with a problem similar to the one Van Gisbergen experienced in the first race.

The win was the second for Van Gisbergen and with two-time championship winner Daniel Gaunt’s nine, the eleventh for International Motorsport’s A1 Team.NZL Junior Development Team in this season’s Toyota Racing Series.

Points-wise Gaunt ended up amassing 1448 points, 328 more than teammate Van Gisbergen in second and 423 more than third placed Ben Harford.

Between them Gaunt and Van Gisbergen also won five of the eight rounds outright and all the major trophies.

Gaunt won the Lady Wigram Trophy at Christchurch’s Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway at Ruapuna Park in January, the Dan Higgins Memorial Trophy at Feilding in February and the New Zealand Grand Prix trophy at Invercargill’s Teretonga Park, while Van Gisbergen has now won what is arguably the most prestigious one of all, the New Zealand Motor Cup, a trophy which has a history going back to the very first beach race at Muriwai west of Auckland in 1921.

As a steady stream of well-wishers came up to offer their congratulations after the race Van Gisbergen was remarkably matter-of-fact about his winning move, saying;

“Andy was quite cautious through Castrol and onto the back straight so I was able to take advantage of that and get around him before the corner. Everything was cold, the brakes, the tyres, the track, but I knew I was going to have to do it on the first lap.”

Van Gisbergen has hardly been out of the limelight since starting his motor racing career three season’s ago, winning the Rookie of The Year award in the Formula First class in 2005, the New Zealand Formula Ford championship outright in 2006 and now finished second overall in his rookie year in the Toyota Racing Series.

Nothing seems to faze the modest, easy-going teenager who got his competition start in Quarter Midgets and ATV Motocross, and he says that driving for the International Motorsport team in the Toyota Racing Series has been everything he expected – and more!

“I always knew the Toyota Racing Series was going to be a lot tougher than Formula Ford and it took a while to learn the cars but every meeting I think I got better and better and now I’m at the front of the field which hopefully will be good for me for next season.”

Having been the the man to beat everywhere else, and having made such a good job of winning the 2006/07 Toyota Racing Series title, Daniel Gaunt was quick to offer his congratulations to his young teammate having himself again had chassis balance issues in the race.

“The race was a little bit of a struggle,” to be honest,” said Gaunt. “We just didn’t have the outright speed. We thought we had found the problem last night (in the first race Gaunt struggled with what he thought was a damper issue) but it still wasn’t quite there.”

“Full credit and a job well done to Shane for finishing second in the championship and winning the NZ Motor Cup. As a team we’ve got a lot to be happy about today.”

Ends

The only flaw in an otherwise perfect weekend was in the first race when, while lying second, the 17-year-old from Auckland’s Manukau City was forced to pit when a piece of his car’s bodywork started rubbing on a rear tyre.

With the overall series title already in teammate Daniel Gaunt’s hands after the penultimate round of the 2006/07 season in March, the interest in this weekend’s series finale at Pukekohe was in the battle between Van Gisbergen and Wellington driver Ben Harford for second place in the championship.

Van Gisbergen got the better start to the weekend with pole position, but Harford was able to close the gap when he finished third behind Knight and Gaunt in race one, Van Gisbergen able to rejoin the race but finish in 14th position.

The young International Motorsport driver remained in front heading into this morning’s 16 lap race but had to finish to ensure that his team retained first and second place in the overall points standings.

An on-form Andy Knight was again quicker off the line but any thoughts that Van Gisbergen might play a percentages game were blown out the window at the end of Pukekohe’s long back straight when the 17-year-old series rookie pulled off one of the season’s best moves with a dramatic round the outside pass for the lead as he and Knight braked for the hairpin.

Knight yielded and Van Gisbergen pulled away to win by just over half a second with Gaunt third and Wanganui’s Earl Bamber fourth.

Harford had been running strongly in fourth but was a late withdrawal with a problem similar to the one Van Gisbergen experienced in the first race.

The win was the second for Van Gisbergen and with two-time championship winner Daniel Gaunt’s nine, the eleventh for International Motorsport’s A1 Team.NZL Junior Development Team in this season’s Toyota Racing Series.

Points-wise Gaunt ended up amassing 1448 points, 328 more than teammate Van Gisbergen in second and 423 more than third placed Ben Harford.

Between them Gaunt and Van Gisbergen also won five of the eight rounds outright and all the major trophies.

Gaunt won the Lady Wigram Trophy at Christchurch’s Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway at Ruapuna Park in January, the Dan Higgins Memorial Trophy at Feilding in February and the New Zealand Grand Prix trophy at Invercargill’s Teretonga Park, while Van Gisbergen has now won what is arguably the most prestigious one of all, the New Zealand Motor Cup, a trophy which has a history going back to the very first beach race at Muriwai west of Auckland in 1921.

As a steady stream of well-wishers came up to offer their congratulations after the race Van Gisbergen was remarkably matter-of-fact about his winning move, saying;

“Andy was quite cautious through Castrol and onto the back straight so I was able to take advantage of that and get around him before the corner. Everything was cold, the brakes, the tyres, the track, but I knew I was going to have to do it on the first lap.”

Van Gisbergen has hardly been out of the limelight since starting his motor racing career three season’s ago, winning the Rookie of The Year award in the Formula First class in 2005, the New Zealand Formula Ford championship outright in 2006 and now finished second overall in his rookie year in the Toyota Racing Series.

Nothing seems to faze the modest, easy-going teenager who got his competition start in Quarter Midgets and ATV Motocross, and he says that driving for the International Motorsport team in the Toyota Racing Series has been everything he expected – and more!

“I always knew the Toyota Racing Series was going to be a lot tougher than Formula Ford and it took a while to learn the cars but every meeting I think I got better and better and now I’m at the front of the field which hopefully will be good for me for next season.”

Having been the the man to beat everywhere else, and having made such a good job of winning the 2006/07 Toyota Racing Series title, Daniel Gaunt was quick to offer his congratulations to his young teammate having himself again had chassis balance issues in the race.

“The race was a little bit of a struggle,” to be honest,” said Gaunt. “We just didn’t have the outright speed. We thought we had found the problem last night (in the first race Gaunt struggled with what he thought was a damper issue) but it still wasn’t quite there.”

“Full credit and a job well done to Shane for finishing second in the championship and winning the NZ Motor Cup. As a team we’ve got a lot to be happy about today.”