CHAZ Mostert has admitted he doesn’t want Shane van Gisbergen to follow Scott McLaughlin’s lead of chasing an international dream.
Van Gisbergen yesterday joined McLaughlin as a three-time Supercars champion, clinching the title in style with a commanding win in the opening race of the Gold Coast 500.
After the race, the Red Bull Ampol Racing star admitted his future beyond 2023 hinges on Gen3.
“Maybe I’d like to start next year and see what the racing is like,” he said.
The versatile 33-year-old is known to have at least a NASCAR cameo on the table and recently made a successful World Rally Championship debut.
McLaughlin left Supercars at the end of 2020 to take up a full-time Indy Car Series opportunity with Team Penske.
Despite van Gisbergen’s dominance – he has won 20 of 31 races this year – Mostert hopes he’s in Supercars for the long haul.
“I’d personally love him to stay,” said Mostert.
“It was the same with Scotty before he went overseas, I want to race the best guys not only in Australia but in the world.
“Look at Shane and Scotty, they are some of the best racecar drivers I’ve ever versed.
“It probably breaks a lot of us drivers’ hearts’ this year that we haven’t been able to pressure Shane and be able to race him the way he wants to be raced and keep him honest in the championship and that dream of bring it down to the last race like we’ve seen plenty of years in the past.
“I don’t know if that’s just a car thing or where the cars have got to, but I’m sure Gen3 is another opportunity where it’s like when we went to (Car of the Future), it took everyone a couple of years to work out the setups of the cars and get the most out of them.
“I think that first year of Gen2 we had 10 or 13 different winners from the category. I think that’s what all the fans want to see. It doesn’t matter who they’re backing, they want to see their driver and team have a chance.
“The last two years it’s been kind of dominated. You can’t take anything away from Shane, he’s one of the best racecar drivers in the world and he does a fantastic job.
“We need to step up as drivers and as a category.
“Hopefully next year it’s a good opportunity for all of us in the lane to work hard over the break and come out swinging to put the pressure on this guy.”
Mostert yesterday finished third behind David Reynolds and just ahead of Will Davison.
Another qualifying, Top 10 Shootout and 85-lap race is to come today.
