"This win was better than Bathurst and even my first win here. No matter where we go next in New Zealand I hope we can keep racing for the JR Trophy."
Van Gisbergen was on form right from the start of the day, snatching pole for the race 28 in qualifying from Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Broc Feeney, with Shell V-Power Racing teammates Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale on row two.
By his own admission, van Gisbergen isn't the world's best starter. However, he hooked up beautifully and led Davison into turn one. Chaos arrived at turn five when De Pasquale was turned by Brodie Kostecki and was fired into the wall, severely damaging the car.
Moments later, Will Brown crashed heavily at the pit entrance, an incident that brought out a red flag and, eventually, fisticuffs in the pit lane between instigator Mark Winterbottom and Erebus Racing boss Barry Ryan.
On the restart, van Gisbergen held Davison at bay. Further around the lap, Davison came unstuck all on his own by trying to go the long way around van Gisbergen and the hairpin, hanging himself out to dry in the dirt and dropping back to fourth in the process.
After a scrappy first half of the race and the completion of compulsory pit stops, the running order was van Gisbergen comfortably ahead of Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters, Davison, Scott Pye and Heimgartner.
The race was curtailed at 35 laps (from 41), being time-sensitive due to the opening lap accidents. Van Gisbergen picked up his 17th win of the season with Mostert second and Waters third. Heimgartner finished sixth and the third Kiwi in the field, Chris Pither, ended 19th.
"What a feeling. I'm going to miss this place and I could feel [the crowd] at the start and on the last lap," said van Gisbergen post-race.
"It was a bit crazy on the restart and I did the best I could to try and get going as I was struggling on my tyres. Once they cleared up I was gone. I looked after the car for the next race and it was fun."
Van Gisbergen didn't have as good a position in race two, having only qualified eighth. Davison took the honours from Waters, De Pasquale, Feeney and Heimgartner.
The second race again started with drama as James Courtney was punted heavily into the wall at turn one. Up front Davison had managed to hold off Waters and De Pasquale to lead the field before the yellow flag came out.
On the restart, Davison bounced away and held firm from Waters, De Pasquale, Feeney and Heimgartner with van Gisbergen in eighth, but trouble arrived for Davison during the pitstop. The left-rear wheel nut wasn't secured properly and he had to return to the pits to rectify and receive a stop-go penalty, his race effectively over.
That gave Waters the lead from Heimgartner, van Gisbergen, Feeney and De Pasquale. With a few laps to go, van Gisbergen got past Heimgartner and set about chasing Waters down.
With the race in its dying stages, the Kiwi slid past Waters on the circuit's high-speed 10th turn, bringing the grandstand to its feet, before he went on to take the win with Heimgartner third.
"To get it done I drew on Jason Richards, the crowd and [Greg Murphy's] legacy," said van Gisbergen. "From eighth I didn't think we could do that. The car was amazing.
"Cam [Waters] had me pretty good, but I wasn't lifting. I knew he was going to be the hardest guy to get past but I wasn't going to give up. He was doing all the right things but making a few mistakes as well. Unreal."
Van Gisbergen's 18th win of the season tied the season record held by fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin with five races left in the campaign, the next being the Bathurst 1000, from October 6-9.
