Supercars championship leader Shane van Gisbergen has fired a warning shot to his rivals as he eyes his first series title since 2016.
The 32-year-old New Zealander sits comfortably atop the standings on 1,926 points after placing second, first and second again at the Townsville SuperSprint round on the weekend.
He is 276 points ahead of his nearest rival, Red Bull Holden teammate Jamie Whincup, while the man who dominated the Townsville SuperSprint with two wins in three races - Ford's Cameron Waters - is 412 points adrift.
Van Gisbergen said he knew the championship couldn't be wrapped up before the pinnacle event of the calendar at Bathurst in October.
Rather than be distracted by thoughts of winning another championship and first since 2016, van Gisbergen said he was determined to win as many races as he could this year.
"There's a long way to go," he said.
"I'm not thinking about it (championship) at all. I want to win every race."
Besides Whincup, Waters appears to be the only driver to be able to threaten van Gisbergen after keeping the Kiwi honest in the last two rounds held at Townsville's Reid Park hybrid circuit.
Van Gisbergen has set the benchmark this season with 11 wins from 19 races.
But Waters appears to be closing the gap, nabbing his fifth career victory and third of the season when he capped a stellar round by holding out van Gisbergen to claim the SuperSprint finale on Sunday.
Van Gisbergen was content with his car and performances, but added there was still work to be done.
"As a team we did a pretty good job over the two weekends (in Townsville) it was pretty cool to be a part of so many one-twos and how stoked everyone was," he said.
"Coming second is never that good but when you do it after a battle like that (against Waters), it's pretty cool.
The Kiwi surpassed the great Peter Brock on his way to his 51st career victory in Supercars on Sunday, while also slowly gaining on Whincup's all-time record of 12 wins in Townsville.
