TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering is in the box seat to achieve an unprecedented feat.
Never before has a team won the Bathurst 1000, Supercars drivers’ championship, Supercars teams’ championship and Super2 Series title all in a single year.
As it stands, Triple Eight has only formally ticked off the first of those four trophies for 2022, Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander winning the Repco Bathurst 1000 eight days ago.
It should secure at least the second leg by the end of the month at the Gold Coast 500.
Van Gisbergen holds a 567-point lead over Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters with no more than 600 left to play for.
Thus, the Kiwi only needs to finish one of the remaining four races this year in merely 24th place to seal the deal.
On the teams’ championship side of things, Triple Eight is 671 points clear of Dick Johnson Racing.
The Banyo juggernaut will put the result beyond doubt at the Gold Coast so long as DJR doesn’t outscore it by more than 95 points across the October 28-30 weekend.
Finally, Triple Eight young gun Declan Fraser will take a 75-point buffer over nearest rival Zak Best into the Super2 decider at Adelaide on December 1-4.
All up, 300 Super2 points will be awarded at the street circuit, meaning Matt Payne (132 behind), Cameron Hill (165) and Tyler Everingham (171) are also still in mathematical contention.
While no team has ever swept all four crowns before, taking three of four is not unusual.
Since Super2’s inaugural season in 2000, four teams have won three of the Bathurst/drivers’/teams’/Super2 titles.
The Holden Racing Team did so in both 2001 and 2002; Triple Eight have done it on four prior occasions, in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2021; and Stone Brothers Racing (2003) and DJR Team Penske (2019) are also in the club.
