SHANE van Gisbergen has heaped praise on his Triple Eight Race Engineering crew after their efforts prevented a championship disaster in Tasmania.
Van Gisbergen was carted wide on Lap 1 of the opening Sunday race at Symmons Plains, smashing into the tyre barriers at the Turn 6/7 run-off.
Only able to limp his #97 Camaro back to the bottom end of pitlane, Triple Eight retrieved the car and quickly set about getting it out for Race 3 in a matter of hours.
Had that not been possible, van Gisbergen would likely have dropped to sixth in the championship, in the vicinity of 250 points behind Brodie Kostecki.
Instead, he was able to take his place from ninth on the grid, and even with a badly wounded car, challenge for a podium before settling for fourth – the reward being a crucial 80 points.
“For how my car looked after today’s first race, watching the guys put it back together to get me out on the grid and noticing how much of the car still wasn’t right – it wasn’t straight and was obviously pretty bent – but to get it mechanically sound and safe and to be able to go out on track and get a decent haul of points is unreal, so a huge thanks to the guys there,” he said.
“The crew also did an amazing pit stop again – we came in early and jumped a few people and hung on to the end, so that was great.
“You certainly have to look at those positives after today. Onto Darwin now, and I’m looking forward to revealing our pretty amazing indigenous liveries.”
Van Gisbergen sits fourth in the standings, with teammate Broc Feeney now right on his tail after winning one Sunday race and finishing second in the other at Symmons Plains.
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