TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering says Shane van Gisbergen’s Sunday shunt at Symmons Plains was not behind the chassis-related headaches that followed.
Constant steering woes frustrated van Gisbergen at the Darwin and Townsville rounds.
A move into the wildcard chassis used by Zane Goddard at Hidden Valley made a difference at Sydney Motorsport Park, with van Gisbergen much happier with his new #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro.
Van Gisbergen responded by being the pacesetter pretty much all weekend, topping both practice sessions and winning the Sunday race from pole position.
“I’ve got to thank the guys, they have done so much work trying to understand what the problem I have been having is with the steering in the car,” he said.
“I drove out on the evaluation day at the wildcard test day and the car was completely different, so we knew there was something to find.
“It has been a difficult couple of months I guess but I remembered how to drive this weekend, it feels like.”
Triple Eight’s confidence that 888A-060 (which van Gisbergen had previously driven) was not cursed, à la the Holden Racing Team’s infamous WR 021, was put to the test yesterday.
The team was able to back-to-back all three of its Camaros at a Sydney ride day to check that the problem has been fixed, although it has not yet reported its findings.
Either way, team manager Mark Dutton believes the issue had not stemmed from the Tasmania SuperSprint incident.
“It’s more a little bit of a wear issue and the parts have been manufactured at the extent of their tolerances,” he said.
Dutton indicated the plan would be to shift van Gisbergen back into 888A-060 once possible, with 888A-063 returning to being the designated wildcard Camaro for Goddard and Craig Lowndes.
Van Gisbergen is now back to being the top Triple Eight driver in the championship, closing to within 54 points of series leader Brodie Kostecki.
With a maximum of 1515 points still up for grabs, a fourth Supercars title is a very real possibility for van Gisbergen before he jets off to NASCAR, almost certainly at the end of this year.
“For us it has been a massive battle the last few rounds but I think every race for the last few rounds bar (Saturday) we have caught the championship leader,” he said.
“So it has been tough but we have still been scoring a lot of points and round wins and stuff like that, whatever they mean. It has been alright.”
