Shane van Gisbergen is well aware of the adage that to finish first at the Bathurst 100, first you have to finish.
The 22-year-old Kiwi has raced in the famous event four times with a 13th-place finish with Stone Brothers Racing teammate Alex Davison in 2009 his best return.
He failed to finish in his debut in the event in 2007 when driving with John McIntyre, he finished 25th a year later with Jonathan Webb and last year, with McIntyre back sharing the driving duties, van Gisbergen was running sixth with just 22 laps to go when a bolt in the car's steering mechanism broke and he ended up classified 21st.
Van Gisbergen goes into the weekend third in the V8 Supercar series points standings behind former series champions Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes and is trying to treat the weekend like any other.
"It (Bathurst) is definitely the biggest race of the year but it's also just another round of the championship so in terms of how I approach it, it is really the same way I approach every other round which means staying calm and doing the best I can,'' he said.
