Whincup happy to wait on title

Van Gisbergen winning the 2022 title has long been seen as a formality, the Kiwi's dominant form already taking him to a record-breaking 19 wins for the season with two rounds and four races to go.

By winning last Sunday's Bathurst 1000 he went close to putting the title beyond doubt, Ford rival Cam Waters just doing enough to keep his slim hopes alive.

With Waters finishing the Great Race third, van Gisbergen was left on a 567-point lead with 600 points still up for grabs across the Gold Coast and Adelaide events.

As a result van Gisbergen is now set to seal the title in Surfers Paradise later this month.

The outcome was a blessing for Supercars given the Bathurst victory would have at least detracted from the series crown, and perhaps even overshadowed it entirely.

Triple Eight MD Whincup, who is poised to become a series winning team boss for the first time, said that even for his team, separating Bathurst and the title was a good outcome.

The seven-time title-winning driver also reckons it will be good motivation for van Gisbergen to add to his wins tally on the streets of Surfers.

"Definitely. If you're the promoter of the Gold Coast event you'd be sitting there going, 'please don't win the title this weekend!'," he told Motorsport.com.

"Of course he's going to win it, and it will most likely happen on the Gold Coast. It's something else to celebrate. And he knows as well that you want to win the race to win the championship. That's important."

In the likely event that van Gisbergen wins the title on the Gold Coast, Whincup is adamant the team will still continue to push for wins until the final race in Adelaide in early December.

"We're not one to celebrate too hard or rest on our laurels," he added.

"There are two race meetings to go, four races. We'll keep our head down for the rest of the year and make sure we round it off."

Should van Gisbergen win the title as expected he will become a three-time champion, matching Scott McLaughlin, Craig Lowndes and Peter Brock.

Bob Jane, Allan Moffat and Jim Richards all have four titles to their names, while Dick Johnson, Mark Skaife and Ian Geoghegan are five-time champions.

Whincup's seven titles makes him the most successful Supercars driver of all time.