After his performance in Austin, Team TEKNO VIP Petfoods’ Shane van Gisbergen said he was looking to improve his qualifying. But how does one do that, exactly? It’s about setting the car up so he is comfortable in it.

“The car’s always good in the race,” van Gisbergen said. “But even when I was with Stone Brothers Racing we struggled with qualifying. It’s a personal thing as well as getting the car sorted, but it’s getting better.

“We need to nail it every time.”

At season opener the Clipsal 500 van Gisbergen took ARMOR ALL Pole Position – but it wasn’t recording the quickest time in the session (he recorded the second fastest time, behind Craig Lowndes). He qualified on pole by running fastest in the ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootout.

And while there hasn’t been a shootout in the weekend format since the third Championship event at Pukekohe Park Raceway, it will return for the SKYCITY Triple Crown to determine the grid for Saturday’s race.

Van Gisbergen said he enjoyed the various formats of qualifying, though there was a lot more pressure during the shootout.

“I enjoy even the 15-minute ones… but the shootout is the toughest as it’s the most nerve-wracking,” he said. “On the big screen TVs you can see yourself and all eyes are on you in the shootout, so it’s more pressure.

“I enjoy all types of qualifying – I just need to get a little better.”

After the team’s results dropped away for a few events, van Gisbergen feels some good improvements have been made with the car and was pleased with the podium he earned at the Austin 400.

“Each track we go to I’m always excited to get there and just go racing.

“Darwin is a pretty good event – the whole town stops and gets behind it, we get looked after up there.

“I’m looking forward to getting there. Because of the heat, the track is hard on tyres, but the racing is quite good.”

Interestingly, Hidden Valley is the only permanent circuit van Gisbergen has won at – his other career victories were at street races in Adelaide and Hamilton in New Zealand.

When ‘The Gis’ won at the Top End in 2011, there was plenty of drama. And while some drivers have mentioned the possibility of chaos with the 60/60 double file rolling restart, van Gisbergen laughed after what had happened in the past.

“I remember the Saturday in 2011 a bit happened with (Jamie) Whincup and (Mark) Winterbottom on a restart. We ended up crossing the line four wide – a rolling start is nothing after what we’re used to from that year!

“We got a bit lucky with the strategy on the Saturday, but had quite good pace as well; we passed a few guys at the end for the win.”

Van Gisbergen said he would be happy in the top five in Darwin, to bag some points and improve his Championship position, as he currently sits sixth overall.

“I think you don’t know who’s going to win next week… I’m finding it is so exciting, there’s so many teams to win races, which is the opposite to last year and it’s really cool to be a part of.”

As well as racing in the V8 SuperTourers New Zealand Championship, van Gisbergen is also hoping to compete in a rally car shortly. “I’m enjoying driving and racing at the moment, it’s so much fun.”

For more information on the SKYCITY Triple Crown visit the event page; tickets are through Ticketek.