Giz ready to light up night back in Sydney
The Supercars championship is back in action this weekend at the Sydney Motorsport Park — again.
The ongoing drama in Australia about hotspot breakouts of Covid-19 has forced the organisers to head back to Sydney to continue the truncated series.
Although it’s a sprint format again, the big difference is there will be a race under lights, which brings its own challenges for the teams and drivers.
It is rare for teams and drivers to have back-to-back track events so it’ll be a great chance to see who’s made the right changes to get ahead, and who might have gone the wrong way.
“It was pretty exciting getting back into the car last month and going racing. The sound, the feel of the car — everything — was so cool,” says Kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen.
“We’ve done a fair bit to make the car ready for the night race. We’ve put more fluoro in the cockpit so it’s more user-friendly and more tinting as well.
“It’s a weird one going back to the same track for the next race. It’s a real opportunity after the debrief to find the problems from the last race and make them better and then to get another go a few weeks later.
“It’s pretty cool and everyone is in the same boat and have been trying to develop their car a bit more and make fewer mistakes.”
Van Gisbergen, who sits eighth in the overall standings, is pretty keen to grab a fistful of points this weekend to make up ground on series leaders Scott McLaughlin, Jamie Whincup and Chaz Mostert.
His DNF in race two in Adelaide put a large dent in his championship hopes, but at least his qualifying has been solid — having put the car inside the top three in the past four races. “The DNF at Adelaide didn’t do us any favours and we’re trying really hard to claw that back. We’re still losing a little bit to the front guys, and the racing is so tight, it’s hard to get three really good race results on the one weekend.
“We seem to have sorted out qualifying this year, as it was our weakness last year in the first half. That’s where Scotty [McLaughlin] has a very big advantage. His car and his skills are very good at getting the most out of the car over one lap. “Certainly, if we can start in front of him or next to him, it will make our job a lot easier.”
Covid-19 has caused the category managers a fair few headaches in recent weeks and everything is still in a state of flux with the uncertainty around new infection hotspots springing up overnight.
Van Gisbergen and the other drivers are well aware the pandemic is affecting thousands of people in Australia and the Kiwi is taking it one race weekend at a time.
“I try not to think about it [the race being cancelled] and we’ve been doing what we would normally do in the lead-up to a race. We can’t change or influence anything, so we’re just getting ready to go racing.” Today will see the night race, with two races tomorrow. Each race will be 32 laps, with similar rule changes and pit crew limitations as last time, and a limited number of fans will be admitted.