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Holden's Shane Van Gisbergen may have had a "horrible day" in Saturday's Supercars race at Tailem Bend but is satisfied to secure a top 10 finish.

It's not something that he's had to experience too much in 2021 but Supercars star Shane Van Gisbergen is the first to admit Saturday's race at Tailem Bend wasn't the best.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing star started this year's championship with six straight race wins.

That streak may have come to an end at last month's event in Tasmania's Symmons Plains but he still came to South Australia holding a 139-point lead in the title race over teammate Jamie Whincup.

On a wet day at The Bend Motorsport Park, the New Zealander barely fired a shot as Ford's Andre Heimgartner claimed the Blue Oval's first Supercars race win in 223 days.

Van Gisbergen qualified for the race in eighth and immediately looked to be in contention as he climbed to third by the end of the opening lap.

But from there the 2016 drivers' champion had a day to forget, including a radio issue that led to him missing his order to pit and then a problem with his pit crew's equipment during the stop.

Finally, as Van Gisbergen pushed to make up ground in the dying laps, he speared off the circuit and took his Commodore for a bit of a drive across the grass though the late incident didn't end up costing him any further points.

"We've had no speed all day on wets. We don't understand why," Van Gisbergen told AAP.

"We tried so much stuff with tyre pressures and it just hasn't worked.

"We've got a few things to get right.

"A few team issues, a few driving issues ... it was a horrible day but we still got seventh so it's good points."