New Zealand's Shane van Gisbergen has sealed his third Australian Supercars title.
Van Gisbergen wins on the Gold Coast. Photo: Mark Horsburgh
The Red Bull Holden driver took an unassailable championship lead with three races remaining by winning the opening race of the Gold Coast 500 on Saturday.
The 2022 champion-elect went into the penultimate round of the season with a 557-point advantage over his closest rival in Cameron Waters, who was the only other driver in title contention.
Needing only to score a points-finish in either one of the season's four remaining races, van Gisbergen claimed the championship with a win by over 17 seconds from David Reynolds in the first race at Surfers Paradise.
With just 450 points now on offer for rest of the season, van Gisbergen's cannot be caught.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering star joins fellow New Zealander Scott McLaughlin, Craig Lowndes and Peter Brock as three-time Supercars winners.
He also becomes just the 11th driver in Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars history to win three or more championships, and the 11th driver to secure titles in consecutive years.
Van Gisbergen's march to the 2022 title was off the back of a record-breaking haul of 20 wins.
He has also claimed a further six podiums in 2022, which puts his on the most equal most amount of podium finishes in a single season.
The two-time Bathurst 1000 winner is also one of eight drivers to finish every race this season, with all but two of his results being outside the top 10.
It follows his dominant 2021 title campaign, which featured 14 wins.
Van Gisbergen had to overhaul David Reynolds on the Gold Coast o get the job done, but was untouchable from there.
The 33-year-old took victory with a 16.8s winning margin.
"We had to beat one car to secure it, but we killed everyone," van Gisbergen said.
"That was amazing, it was a great battle at the start, Dave was driving awesome. I enjoyed racing him, it's been a while.
"Thank you to Red Bull Ampol Racing… what a year, it's been a lot of fun."
When asked on the emotions of sealing the title, van Gisbergen said: "Nothing yet, I want to come out tomorrow and do the same job.
"It's certainly pretty special, to see the guys, how much effort they've been putting in, how good our cars are.
"I'm stoked, It's hard to put it into words yet."
The Gold Coast 500 continues on Sunday with Race 32 to take place at 4:15pm.
