Van Gisbergen salutes at Bathurst

Holden Driver Shane Van Gisbergen has won the Bathurst 1000 for the first time, seeing off Ford's Cameron Waters to salute at Mount Panorama on Sunday.

Having finished runner up last year and in 2016 the New Zealander finally won the most coveted race on the Supercars calendar, co-driver Garth Tander winning the 161 lap race for the fourth time having also won in 2000, 2009 and 2011.

Two late safety cars with nine and five laps to go threatened to cost Van Gisbergen his drought breaking triumph, but the 31 year old held his nerve to stay clear of the chasing pack and conquer the mountain.

Shane van Gisbergen was all smiles on the podium post race, saying he doubted whether he would ever get a chance to win at Bathurst after coming close on two previous occasions.

"So special to win here. Got close so may times and then you just begin to doubt, especially in those last few laps, you start to think what is going to go wrong?

"But the car ran faultless all day and got better and better."

Waters and Will Davison came in second place for Ford, while Chaz Mostert finished in third to round out the podium.

2020 Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin finished in fifth after a sensational start to the race, team mate Fabian Coulthard in fourth.

The race was the final one of the 2020 schedule, which has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on travel.

IMAGE: Western Advocate.