Motorsport: Van Gisbergen shines in Porsche debut

Australian V8 Supercar driver Shane Van Gisbergen bagged himself a drive in the Porsche GT3 races in Taupo on a trip home to New Zealand.

Van Gisbergen brought a bit of the V8 rough-and-tumble style of driving to the GT3 class and muscled his way to a win in the first Porsche race yesterday and was looking good for another win in the endurance race.

Everything was going according to plan until a puncture forced him off the track while leading.

Van Gisbergen has long stated his liking of tin-top racing and took to the V8s like a duck to water after his time in single-seaters. He jumped into a Porsche at Taupo for the first time and not only was he the cat among the pigeons, he promptly ate most of them.

"The set-up of the car was good right from the very start," said Van Gisbergen. "I was able to jump in and go fast right from the very beginning. It was very enjoyable and fun."

During the sprint race yesterday, Van Gisbergen hunted down accomplished GT3 racer Matt Halliday and after giving him a few nudges promptly shoved his car up the inside and grabbed the lead. By the end of the race Van Gisbergen was more than a second in front.

"The car was working really good in the last race as well and it was really unfortunate the valve pulled out of the rim. The first race with Matt [Halliday] was really great. I think I surprised him a bit and he left a bit of a gap up the inside so I took it," said Van Gisbergen.

A few V8 Supercar teams would like to use the 19-year-old Kiwi's talents and no doubt there'll be a few Porsche teams joining the queue.