The V8 Supercars round in Darwin has again proved fruitful for Kiwi V8 driver Shane Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen. It was at Hidden Valley Raceway that ‘the Giz’ enjoyed two podium finishes at the SkyCity Triple Crown meeting and this year he went even better claiming his first V8 Supercar win on Australian soil at the Darwin circuit.

This landmark victory comes almost two months to the day after the 22-year-old claimed his first series win at his home round in Hamilton and with two wins to his name now van Gisbergen is a genuine 2011 title contender.

He claimed his second win in style too, following up from the disappointment of a clash and subsequent scrabble to finish seventh in Saturday’s race with an epic drive through the pack from his sixth row starting position to eventually catch and pass Craig Lowndes for the lead of Sunday’s race with just three laps to go.

In doing so van Gisbergen proved the wisdom of Stone Brothers Racing’s tyre strategy, the team choosing to start its drivers on the harder ‘control’ tyre and save the softer ‘option’ tyre until later on, when – as happened – a Safety Car period might play into their hands. (more…)

It would seem to most that NASCAR is a fairly basic sport to follow. All the cars look the same, they only turn one way and the driver who finishes first takes the win, right? Well, that is correct but it turns out that the points system is actually quite complicated. While we don’t have the brains or the patience to explain how the old system worked, apparently the new points system for the upcoming 2011 season will be a whole lot easier to understand.

The new points system works a little something like this:

• If you win the race you receive 43 points but if you finish in 43rd place you receive one point and every driver in between receives points based on their order of finish
• The new system still allows for bonuses, with the winner of the race receiving three points and any driver who leads an entire lap receives a point for each lap they lead
• A point will also be given to the driver who leads the most laps in any given race

To keep race winners from scoring a massive point totals for just one awesome race, NASCAR has capped the total points at 48 for any one race. The new system certainly sounds quite easy but will it mean more Kiwis watch NASCAR? Probably not.