The NASCAR-bound Kiwi scored a third Great Race crown today, he and Richie Stanaway gaining an early strategic advantage and dominating the rest of proceedings.
It seemed like a more than comfortable win, the final margin after 161 laps a healthy 20 seconds.
That was despite a nervous final two stints where van Gisbergen was concerned whether his car would make it to the finish.
His woes included inconsistencies with the steering rack, a known issue with the Gen3 cars, as well as clutch and brake feel concerns.
Then there was the gearshift tower failure that ruled Triple Eight's two other cars out of contention. The first was Craig Lowndes early in the race, before Broc Feeney – in genuine contention to win – was ruled out with the same issue late in the race.
Van Gisbergen also had to deal with what he says were "football" sized chunks of rubber build-up coming out of the front splitter.
Rubber marbles are known to be a huge issue with the new cars, particularly as there is no longer a closed under tray at the front.
There was a case earlier in the weekend where rubber build-up knocked a drive belt off a Tickford Mustang's V8 motor, while other drivers were known to have large chunks of rubber in wheel arches and splitter.
"I had so many problems with the car at the end with the [steering] rack, the clutch, the last set of brakes wasn't very good, and then rubber kept falling out of the splitter," he explained.
"They kept saying they were pulling footballs of rubber out of the splitter every pitstop. I had one, five laps to go, fall out at the Cutting and it fell under the right rear tyre and I had a big slide. That wasn't very nice.
"I just hoped the thing held together. And obviously my teammates had the gearshift issues, so I was trying to be nice when I could. It is what it is."
Van Gisbergen and Stanaway became the first all-Kiwi line-up to win the Great Race since 1999 when honours went to Greg Murphy and Steve Richards.
