The Kiwi spent most of today's first sprint race locked in an intense battle with eventual winner Cam Waters.
The pair went close to trading paint right after their stops as they jostled for the lead, before continuing their battle right down to the final corner.
The crescendo of the race was contact between the pair on the entry to that final corner as van Gisbergen tried to slide down the inside of Waters.
However the ploy almost backfired as he broke his left-front steering arm, van Gisbergen lucky to get to the line in second place.
Reflecting on the wild finish, van Gisbergen admitted that he should probably have settled for second, and that he should work on his self-restraint.
"I can't help myself sometimes, when I probably should settle for second," he said.
"He left me an invitation and I took it and broke the front of the car. Luckily I got it across the line, but yeah, sometimes I should just settle for second and take the points.
"But that's also boring."
Despite the late contact, and the fact he finished second, van Gisbergen said he greatly enjoyed the race and the battle with renowned hard racer Waters.
"There's smart racers and there are not smart racers," said van Gisbergen. "He's one of the smart ones, he knows where to place [the car] and how to defend.
"I always enjoy the battles. Even though I came second I still enjoyed the race.
"Racing Cam is always a lot of fun. It's always a tough race. You know you're going to get pushed to the limit, but the limit is enough. That's all I need. I always enjoy battling him."
Waters, meanwhile, said he fully expected van Gisbergen to come at him late in the race, and admitted to missing the apex at the last corner, which drew his Triple Eight into the attempted pass.
"Shane was coming back to me and I was losing rears, so I knew I was going to have the battle on my hands in the second half of the race," said the Tickford driver.
"I just had to maintain track position, look after the tyres and try and have enough in the tank to hold Shane off at the end.
"He was pretty quick at the end there but I just had to keep hitting my marks. I missed one which gave him a bit of a look at the end there, but got it done."
