Bathurst dream-team aims high
Shane van Gisbergen may have found the perfect partnership to win his first Bathurst 1000 by teaming up with compatriot Earl Bamber.
Van Gisbergen and Bamber are hoping to be the first all Kiwi team to win the Great Race since Greg Murphy and Steven Richards achieved this feat in 1999, the only time this has happened.
Given how van Gisbergen is leading the Supercars championship and Bamber is a two-time Le Mans 24 Hours champion, they have all the credentials to make this a special weekend for New Zealand motorsport.
‘‘To have someone of his calibre join us is really awesome,’’ van Gisbergen said of Bamber.
‘‘We grew up together in New Zealand and you can’t not know about the V8s coming from there and he loves them.’’
Van Gisbergen, 29, is 10 months older than Bamber and in the small New Zealand motor racing scene they knew each other well when younger.
‘‘He was always competitive, a friendly kid and we always got along well,’’ van Gisbergen remembered. ‘‘In go-karts he whipped my arse and was really good, then in Formula Ford we were pretty evenly matched.
‘‘Our careers then went in different ways. I came here and he went to Asia and other parts of the world, but we’ve kept in touch and have been good friends ever since, so getting to team up is really cool.’’
Most Supercars co-drivers spend most of the year based in Australia competing in smaller categories, then step up for the three Supercars endurance rounds at Sandown, Bathurst and Gold Coast.
But Bamber is different. He races in some of the most prestigious races around the world – this isn’t so much a step up for him but the opportunity to tick something else off his bucket list.
Van Gisbergen has noticed how committed Bamber is to be at his best at Bathurst and to help him with this Bamber has taken the unusual step of putting himself down as the co-driver for Brenton Grove in the Super2 development series, just so he can get more laps around the track.
‘‘With the way he approached Sandown, where we didn’t have much practice, he got up to speed quite well and built up to it,’’ van Gisbergen said.
‘‘Here, that will work for him too, because there are six practice sessions, so he’ll get plenty of time and also he’s racing in the development series, so a lot of laps.
‘‘That’s the approach he has to have, to build up and more importantly, we need to keep on top of him for all of the rules and procedures, which is something I struggle with when racing in other series, because they’re all different. You have to be mindful of them and we have to teach him the THURSDAY procedures in the pit lane and with the safety car. We’ll keep on top of him for that, but with the driving, he’ll be fine.’’
The build up for Bathurst is a long one. Most drivers arrive on Tuesday, spend a couple of days doing promo and media events and they won’t hit the track until today for practice sessions.
‘‘I’ve learnt not to push here on a Thursday,’’ van Gisbergen said. ‘‘It doesn’t mean too much and because it’s a normal road the track will be nothing like what it’ll be on Friday afternoon.’’
While winning Bathurst would be another magnificent achievement in van Gisbergen’s career, he’s also battling it out with Scott McLaughlin to win his second Supercars title and you do get the feeling that the championship is more important to him.
‘‘It’s obviously a dream in life to win it [Bathurst], but I’m not putting more pressure on myself for this than for any other race.
‘‘All weekends are worth 300 points and this weekend is the same, so to go for the championship we need to score as many points as possible and anything better is a bonus.’’