Both he and Kligerman found more than two seconds in lap time from start of session to end at the recently resurfaced Sonoma Raceway, and van Gisbergen says he can improve further.
“It was really cool; cool track, I love this place, and it’s a proper driver’s track with elevation and, I guess, risk management through Turn 1 and down the hill in the first section,” he remarked.
“Yeah, I really enjoyed driving it; just trying to learn the limits of the Xfinity car and how the tyres work.
“I just got better and better every lap and then we were a little bit late putting our new tyres on; that’s why a couple of guys jumped up well before us.
“But yeah, felt really good, there’s more to come from the car and myself as well, to try and get the lap better, but all in all, we were pretty competitive all practice.”
Van Gisbergen had the benefit of lapping Sonoma in the Chevrolet Wheel Force car in recent weeks, but his win a week ago at Portland and performance in March at Circuit of The Americas arguably make him the obvious man to beat when the Xfinity Series goes road course racing.
That much was evident when his rivals were waiting to follow him in practice today in California’s wine country.
“I had some guys in practice then try and play games and set up behind me so that was pretty cool,” noted the three-time Bathurst 1000 winner.
“But, I just want to try and be that guy on an oval – that’s what I need to get better at – but obviously, on a road course, everyone knows I’m going to be competitive.
“Probably most of them knew I’d been here at the Wheel force tests as well, so I knew the track and the line, so it’s probably a bit of that.”
Van Gisbergen’s successor in the Triple Eight Race Engineering Supercars team, Will Brown, finished third-fastest in his debut Cup Series practice session following the Xfinity hit-out.
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