Motorsport: Shane van Gisbergen keen to get speed up to match teammate Jamie Whincup

Shane van Gisbergen's car has been off the pace recently. Photo / Getty

Runaway Supercars championship leader Scott McLaughlin had his series lead clipped last weekend at Reid Park in Townsville by a resurgent Jamie Whincup.

Proving he is human, McLaughlin had a mixed bag over the weekend, especially in the first two races where he qualified well down the field.

On the other hand, Red Bull Holden Racing's Whincup was dominant all weekend with two wins and a third to be the round winner. He has now closed the gap to Kiwi star McLaughlin to 123 points with Chaz Mostert third, 384 points behind.

Despite Whincup's success, teammate Shane van Gisbergen couldn't get his car in the window.

Although he did mange get on the podium in race two, a 19th in race one and a fighting eighth in race three isn't what he wanted — although you can throw a large picnic rug over the field during qualifying.

"There's a few small areas we've been lacking in. This week we've stripped most of the car and made sure all the little things are right," van Gisbergen told the Weekend Herald.

"It's so tight now with the cars pretty much all the same that only a few tenths of a second slower during qualifying will see you in the middle of the field. And that's when you get involved in all the first lap stuff [banging and barging].

"Everyone now has cars that are so close it makes it really exciting racing and you have get every little bit right with the car to get those good grid spots," the Kiwi driver said.

This weekend will be the fourth race event in a row — something of a novelty for the Supercars series, where in the past they have on occasion had a month between race weekends.

It's doubtful there will be a completely straight car in the paddock after this weekend's race, as teams have not been able to get back to their traditional home bases.

"Racing four weeks in a row is awesome and hopefully we can get a bit more momentum going this weekend," said van Gisbergen.

"You have to keep the cars as straight as possible due to the short turnaround between races and race weekends. It really helps starting from the front two rows to stay out of trouble.

"Everyone's car looks a bit battered after four weeks on the road so you have to keep them as straight as you can."

Van Gisbergen is looking forward to getting back on to the Townsville street circuit this weekend. The advantage of racing on the same circuit a week later has been the opportunity to look at the car and rectify any issues using the latest data.

There has been a bit of head scratching on van Gisbergen's side of the garage as to his car's lack of pace when compared to Whincup.

"We've both been pretty quick and Jamie certainly had a good weekend last time. I'm certainly going to try to have my car closer to his setup so we can both be up front.

"We're just lacking in a couple of areas on our side [of the garage] so we'll start the same as them this weekend and see how we go. Hopefully we can make improvements."