Van Gisbergen has ideas for The Bend
Round four of the Supercars championship rolls into Tailem Bend, South Australia, this weekend with New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen sitting comfortably on top of the points table with a healthy 139 point lead over teammate Jamie Whincup, who in turn is 26 points ahead of Chaz Mostert.
In one of the fastest starts to any season, van Gisbergen made a clean sweep of the first six races. However, due to the talent in the field it was unlikely the Kiwi would have it all his own way for the entire year. Races seven and eight at Symmons Plains, Tasmania saw Whincup and Mostert get their maiden 2021 wins.
“Some people were commenting that we didn’t have too good a race weekend last time we raced,” van Gisbergen told the Weekend Herald on the way to the circuit.
“I don’t know why because we still won a race and our worst result was a fifth. It was still a good weekend and I think we finished second in the points for the weekend.”
The previous two rounds have been on tracks that suit the Triple Eight engineered cars and the results were indicative of that. This weekend though, the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team might just have their work cut out if they are to dominate the two races.
“We should be okay this weekend. It’s not been our strongest track [The Bend] in the past, but we’ve got a few ideas and new
things to try this weekend so we should be okay,” said van Gisbergen.
“We struggle a bit on tracks that are fast, flowing and have long corners. We’re always good at places with short corners — street circuits and stuff like that. We’ve been close in the past [to getting a good car] and that’s what all the prep has been about since the last race.
“The practice and qualifying sessions are pretty short so we have to be straight on it as soon as the car hits the track. There’s been no radical changes to the car so it should be a good improvement,” he said.
The depth of talent in the 24-car field is robust and there are a couple of the younger drivers who are showing they are fast on occasion, but have struggled for consistency. Will Brown, Bryce Fullwood, Jack Le Brock and Brodie Kostechi have all had finished inside the top six over the past eight races.
“That’s what the competition is all about. We’re not going to win every race and will be doing everything we can each time we go out. The car’s capable of it [winning every race] but we have to make sure everything else is all right. If so, we’ll be up the front somewhere,” said van Gisbergen.
“You’ve got some good, fast young drivers who have been pushing like Kostechi and [Zane] Goddard. In the last race he was beating me at the start. The future of the sport is looking good with new drivers coming through which is awesome.
“It keeps me honest and the cars are so even now. When you see a driver doing well you know it’s them that are performing well and getting better and better. It’s great to see and it’s not going to get any easier; they’re all getting faster.”
After the first round at Bathurst, van Gisbergen crashed his mountain bike and as a result had to have surgery on his collarbone where a plate was inserted. On top of that he also broke three ribs.
He was back in car for Sandown in March, albeit in a lot of pain and was able to race in Tasmania a couple of weeks later. He’s had even more time to heal and reckons he’s almost back to full fitness.
“It’s been good to have three weeks off. The time off has really helped me and it’s been a good time to recover. I think I’m a lot better now, especially my ribs.
“I’ve not broken them before and they were awful. They were really bad, but they’re pretty good now. It hasn’t been fun, especially with all the racing just after I’d done it, but I’ve had all the right stuff and good doctors.”