SHANE van Gisbergen has lauded an encouraging sign for Supercars’ Gen3 project following the opening race of the Melbourne 400 at Albert Park.
For the third time in as many starts in 2023, van Gisbergen took the chequered flag first, but it was certainly not a race without intrigue.
And in perhaps the biggest win yet for Gen3, it came at the end of 19 laps in which the ability for cars to follow one another closer was clear to see.
Having indicated overheating tyres had limited action in Newcastle, van Gisbergen was pleased to report the new cars are better to follow at an aero track like Albert Park than their predecessors.
“I think so, and I definitely think you get a slipstream now,” said the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver.
“Since we put the gurneys on the (Gen2) cars, if you got close to someone it would push them away; 2019 that started.
“You could never get a slipstream so now you can get a slipstream again.
“I followed Anton (De Pasquale, early race leader) and thought ‘oh shit, the Fords have got no grunt’ and then when I got in front he was even faster than I was on him.
“So that’s quite a promising thing, having a slipstream, but again it’s weird – I probably still haven’t driven a race lap flat out yet, you can’t drive them fast.
“You have to sort of baby them, it’s weird, but everyone has got the same thing I guess.”
That last point is still a negative in van Gisbergen’s eyes – as is the lack of feel offered by his #97 Camaro – although tyre temperatures have generally been less of a factor here than at Newcastle.
“Well you can move here, you can move your car out into clean air, but of course the surface temp helps,” added the three-time champion.
“So if we could race in southern states or New Zealand all of the time, that would be great.”
Brodie Kostecki, who initially ran second behind De Pasquale and ultimately did finish runner-up, also noted the improved slipstream.
“I got a small slipstream off of (De Pasquale) but I thought when he was behind me, he probably had a bit more on me,” noted the Erebus driver.
“I was only just barely catching him but he was getting bad exits… there is definitely a slipstream now which is good.”
Supercars action tomorrow is limited to just the one race, starting at 2:55pm AEDT.
