Motorsport: SVG celebrates title with burnout and final race win

Shane van Gisbergen celebrates winning the Supercars title. Photo / Getty Images

Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen has celebrated securing the Supercars championship in style by winning the final race of the season on the streets of Sydney today.

Having sewn up a maiden title yesterday van Gisbergen was free of dealing with the pressure of protecting a championship lead and dominated the final ever race on the streets of Sydney.

He celebrated with a spectacular burnout after first grabbing the chequered flag and cruising down the main straight with his team clapping him on.

Garth Tander signed off from his time with Holden Racing Team in style by finishing second as the team also finished their last race with Holden factory backing.

Championship runner-up Jamie Whincup battled David Reynolds for the final podium spot in the closing stages but the Erebus driver managed to hang on for confidence-boosting win after a difficult season.

New Zealander Scott McLaughlin finished fifth and secured third place in the championship as a result.

Tander started from pole and got the better jump but van Gisbergen covered the chasing pack and held them at bay unlike yesterday where he was swamped at the first corner.

The New Zealander settled into a nice rhythm and got on Tander's bumper for a number of laps before finally sneaking past into the lead of the race on lap 20.

Two different strategies were used as a number of cars opted to pit early and take advantage of some clean air. They made ground relative to the leaders but the downside was the extra wear on their tyres.

After his first stop van Gisbergen took on slightly more fuel than Tander and there was a small amount of contact between the two cars as the Kiwi rejoined pit lane. It was investigated by race control but no breach was found.

When it all shook out James Courtney had skipped by and taken lead of the race but van Gisbergen had strategy in his favour.

That advantage disappeared when Kiwi Fabian Coulthard ran into a stricken Cam Waters and a safety car was deployed.

All cars ended up on the same strategy as they all dived for the pits and van Gisbergen emerged from the lane first. Teammate Whincup was forced to stack and dropped a lot of time.

A second safety car shortly after bunched the cars up again for the sprint home.

Whincup and McLaughlin jumped Courtney when the Holden driver went wide and Whincup set up a final charge to the podium with no avail.