Shane van Gisbergen was “s***-scared” he would hit the championship trophy during his wild Adelaide celebrations.
Van Gisbergen stuttered to seventh in the VALO Adelaide 500 finale on Sunday.
Despite his weekend woes, van Gisbergen completed memorable burnout celebrations on pts straight.
Van Gisbergen spun around the championship trophy gymkhana-style.
In scenes reminiscent of his 2016 title win in Sydney, van Gisbergen parked his car on the pit wall.
This time, he planted his race boot on the throttle as he fetched the trophy and played up the crowd.
Broc Feeney breaks through in Adelaide! | 01:44
“It wasn’t too planned — I like to wing it,” van Gisbergen said.
“We talked about what I was allowed to do, and they told me to do it somewhere around the trophy.
“I was s***-scared of hitting the thing, I left a lot of room.
“I got out and it was still smoking — it was awesome.”
Van Gisbergen had a dramatic weekend, from crashing on Saturday to speeding in pit lane on Sunday.
He was penalised for a Safety Car infringement late in Sunday’s race, dropping him out of contention.
It killed any chance of completing an all-Holden podium in the brand’s last race.
Teammate Broc Feeney brought home his maiden victory, much to van Gisbergen’s delight.
“Don’t die wondering — I wanted to make it a Holden one-two-three,” van Gisbergen said.
“When I got into third, I was pumped.
“I’m pretty gutted and baffled they gave us a penalty so much later.
“I’m so glad that a Holden won too, and for Broc to get his first win and the team to go out on top… ripper.
“So glad to be back here in Adelaide and see the stands full.”
Feeney: I’ll be contending next year | 00:21
Van Gisbergen clinched the title on the Gold Coast in October, and was all-out attack in Adelaide.
However, he failed to win a race at a weekend for the first time since Darwin in June.
Along the way, van Gisbergen’s 2022 has been full of highlights, headlined by his Bathurst win and Pukekohe send-off victory.
In 34 races, van Gisbergen won a record 21 times — and he admitted his dominance has given himself cause to reflect.
“It feels amazing… I sort of let it sink in after Gold Coast,” he said.
“I wanted to come here and perform, but it hasn’t worked out.
“What an amazing year we’ve had… I’ve tried to treasure some of moments this year.
“You realise along the way it’s not going to be like this all the time.
“[Pukekohe] was the best weekend I’ve had in racing… amazing how it all fell together.
“Pukekohe was where fell in love with Supercars and wanted to be a Supercar driver.
“To send it out like that was epic.”
Of his family coming back to races, he said: “They missed coming last year.
“I’ve just had a great car all year, team’s been awesome.
“Still ready to go, we should put another set of tyres on it and keep skiddin’.
“That was fun.”
The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Newcastle next March.
