WHINCUP SECRET
WHAT’S JAMIE HIDING?
SHANE van Gisbergen says the biggest challenge for his Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s progression to V6 power next year is to tame the turbocharged package.
The all-conquering Queensland squad will today unveil the radical new look they will carry this year in a new ZB Commodore shell.
While they will stick to V8 engines for now, testing will ramp up in coming months ahead of a V6 wildcard debut later this year and a full-time switch for next season.
The 2016 Supercars champion can’t wait to get behind the wheel and help shape its progress.
“It will be good to see what it goes like the second and third evolutions of the motor and that’s where we make some good gains,” van Gisbergen said.
“It’s way different (to the V8) but the power is the same when it’s going.
“It’s just the way a turbo comes on is quite aggressive so we just need to tame that down while still keeping the same power output to make it fair for not only us but everybody else.”
In the meantime, RBHRT have a major fight on their hands with Ford rivals DJR Team Penske and the rebranded Tickford looming large.
Slumping to fourth in an up-and-down 2017 campaign which saw him hand his championship crown to Racing teammate Jamie Whincup, van Gisbergen spent a fair chunk of the off-season refreshing in his native New Zealand.
Ford won the majority of races last year but van Gisbergen hopes the switch to the ZB model will make the Holden brigade a more consistent force.
“Yeah there’s a few things we have tried to make it do but mainly just a bit more user friendly – easier on every sort of track,” he said.
“Obviously the cars are all the same underneath so it is just the aerodynamics.
“There were characteristics of the (VF) car that were always there that we could never make the best so yeah I think hopefully it is just a little evolution and makes it a little better.”
Red Bull have not lost a drivers’ title since placing van Gisbergen alongside Whincup, with the pairing – and Craig Lowndes in the Autobarn-backed sister car – pushing each other to new heights.
“It’s pretty awesome to be alongside those two guys, Craig and Jamie,” van Gisbergen said. “I’m still learning a lot off them – they work so hard at their craft.”
IT’S WAY DIFFERENT (TO THE V8) BUT THE POWER IS THE SAME WHEN IT’S GOING SHANE VAN GISBERGEN