Advantage van Gisbergen?
If history repeats itself it should be advantage Shane van Gisbergen over Scott McLaughlin this weekend in Adelaide.
The Kiwi drivers are expected to be locked in battle all season for the Supercars title, as was the case last year.
McLaughlin narrowly took the championship and it should go down to the wire again, but van Gisbergen should get his campaign off to a great start as he’s won the last four races in Adelaide.
In those races McLaughlin placed 17th, 2nd, 3rd and 10th, so it could be that van Gisbergen again comes away from the first round of the season with a small lead.
Van Gisbergen though, as is usually the way with him, talks down what he’s looking to achieve in Adelaide.
‘‘No expectations,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve got everything here, the same car as last year, same mechanics, same engineer, so it’s good continuity and hopefully we can carry some momentum.’’
That couldn’t be much different to McLaughlin, who’ll be driving a Ford Mustang this season for the first time, with the Falcon retired.
Other than the body and aero package, there’s not much difference between each Supercar, but McLaughlin said he needed to make some adjustments.
As McLaughlin first revealed to Stuff the day after winning last year’s championship, he’s not taking the traditional option of racing with No 1 on his car, but will retain No 17.
However, going into the season as the champion, there will be extra attention on him and he’ll be the driver everyone wants to beat.
Winning in Adelaide would be the perfect way to start his title defence and he revealed that it is one of the goals he’s out to achieve in the category.
‘‘I haven’t won Adelaide before and that’s something I really want to do,’’ he said.
‘‘That and Bathurst are probably the next two I really want and I’m going to work hard to make sure I’m ready to go.’’
The Adelaide street circuit is one of the best of the Supercars season, with there being a nice blend of overtaking opportunities and tricky corners to test the drivers.
There will be three other Kiwi drivers in action this weekend, with Andre Heimgartner retained by Kelly Racing, Richie Stanaway now driving for Garry Rogers Motorsport and Fabian Coulthard, who is once more McLaughlin’s team-mate.
Coulthard will have a point to prove this season after a disappointing 2018 and there are rumours that he could be replaced by Chaz Mostert at the team next year.
For now, Coulthard is optimistic about the campaign.
‘‘The build up to this season has been pretty full on,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve had livery launches, a test day and things like that, but now we actually get into racing in Adelaide, so I’m pretty pumped and looking forward to the season ahead.
‘‘Once you’ve had a taste of winning Adelaide, it leaves you wanting more,’’ he added.
I think we’ve got a great package under us, I’m looking forward to showing it off to the fans.’’