SVG wary of his tyres on Townsville circuit
Townsville’s Reid Park circuit has been a happy hunting ground for Red Bull Ampol Racing and Supercars championship leader Shane Van Gisbergen, but a mixture of tyre types has the reigning champion cautious of this weekend’s races.
‘‘I don’t really know what’s going to happen, that’s probably going to be pretty interesting,’’ van Gisbergen said of both hard and super-soft tyres for the two 250km endurance races.
‘‘It’s going to be bit of a lottery with hard and super soft.’’
Van Gisbergen won three of the five races at Reid Park in 2021 over two weekends and has recorded eight wins at the circuit throughout his career.
But his lead at the top of the ladder over Shell V-Power’s Anton De Pasquale was cut back to 214 points in their last leg in Darwin.
The reigning champion said his car showed good speed in their last outing but the key to navigating Reid Park’s hybrid street and road circuit is a strong car that can handle the bruising curbs.
‘‘You got to hit the curbs here every lap, it’s brutal on the cars and you got to do it for 250ks,’’ he added. ‘‘The preparation has been good the last few weeks and we pre-briefed earlier this week. We got a pretty good plan for the weekend and see how it goes.’’
Sitting 288 points adrift on the championship standings, third-placed Cameron Waters also thinks strategy regarding tyre degradation is vital to success.
Waters is coming off his third victory of the year in Darwin and enjoyed success in his last trip to Townsville.
The ‘‘risk versus reward factor’’ of Reid Park bodes well for his driving style he said, agreeing a mixed compound tyre set shakes up their strategy.
‘‘It’s a much different circuit, but you still want the car to just be as good as you can . . . trying to get the best balance and all those things,’’ he told reporters.
‘‘But longer races, you need the car better on its tyres, its fuel as well and its hard and super soft tyres.
‘‘So there’s a few other things which we have to consider with strategy, you know, strategy is a little bit more full on than the last few rounds.’’
Round seven of the Supercars season kicks off with two practice sessions today before qualifying for race 19 begins tomorrow.
‘‘It’s brutal on the cars and you got to do it for 250ks.’’ Shane van Gisbergen on the Reid Park circuit in Townsville