LAST October, Shane van Gisbergen indicated his Supercars future hinged on how Gen3 turned out.
“I would like to stay here… but maybe I’d like to start next year and see what the racing is like,” he said during the 2022 Gold Coast 500.
So, van Gisbergen’s apparent ongoing discontent with various elements of the new-generation Supercars had sparked questions about whether his existing Triple Eight deal (expiring at the end of 2023) might be his last.
Any such theory was put to bed last week though, with Triple Eight and van Gisbergen announcing a multi-year extension.
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Does that mean he is now a fan of Gen3?
“No, that’s not right,” was van Gisbergen’s blunt response when asked on this week’s Castrol Motorsport News podcast.
“You hate complaining about stuff but they aren’t that great as a driver’s car, which is pretty selfish, like they’re more of an engineer’s car than a driver’s car, it feels like.
“Maybe it will get better but that’s part of what I have learnt to enjoy the past couple of months, is working with Andrew (Edwards, race engineer) and the other guys and trying to make the car better.
“It’s a whole different set-up and way of going about it in how the car is set up and stuff, so that challenge has been pretty cool and quite refreshing because we didn’t really develop much over the last couple of years because none of the rules had really changed.
“So it is a fresh challenge and I think with the changes that they’re hopefully going to do to the cars it will keep challenging and changing in years to come, so that bit is fine.”
Indeed, it is the engineering challenge and ability to work closely with the likes of Edwards at Triple Eight which is motivating ‘SVG’ to stick around, plus the freedom to indulge in other disciplines such as rally, speedway and maybe even NASCAR.
Van Gisbergen enters Round 3 at Perth this weekend sitting third in the championship, behind Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki and Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert.
Among several changes since Albert Park has been an adjustment to make the Camaro’s Centre of Gravity slightly higher.
The change equates to roughly 0.006s in lap time at Wanneroo Raceway but van Gisbergen is not downplaying it.
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“I don’t think it’s insignificant, like it is still going to be there,” he said.
“But it seems weird to change something by 1.5mm Centre of Gravity when the email went out with the results of it saying that your result could have had up to 1mm worth of error.
“So I really don’t get it but if it silences the parity stuff and makes the optics of it better, then you understand it, but it does seem a bit weird.”
