The performance of Shane Van Gisbergen and Red Bull Racing over the weekend makes me think they are the favourites to win this title.
I think I said after the first round way back at the beginning of the year that Van Gisbergen was the guy to beat and I've only seen more evidence to back that up. He has moved up to second in the standings after Townsville and is just 53 points behind teammate Jamie Whincup. Had he not made a couple of minor mistakes this year he would be leading the championship.
He had a small mistake way back at the beginning of the year at Symmons Plains when he hit some oil while leading the race and went off the track. It was costly because he would have had a double race victory there for sure. He was very hard on himself with that situation - he was out in front and says he should have done a better job avoiding the oil. Well that is a tough one when you're the first car on the scene and you don't know how much is there and you position your car only to find out that it wasn't the right call. We've all done that before. He should have had 150 points in the bag that he doesn't have now. Then there was the Darwin thing at the previous meeting where he was penalized for passing Michael Caruso at the resumption of a safety car break before the race went green, which he will be kicking himself over. It was only a little error but it probably cost him another race win.
The result at Townsville on Sunday with Van Gisbergen was pretty significant. He was in control big time. The pace that he had was very strong and he had a lot of confidence in his car. His pass on Mark Winterbottom after an early safety car was vital and he basically controlled the race from that moment on.
As far as consistency goes Van Gisbergen, along with Whincup, might be fighting it out amongst themselves. It is not going to be a done deal for a very long time - it might come down to the last race - but they continue to find the little pieces that add up and that makes a difference at the end of the season.