New cars on way for Lowndes and Van Gisbergen

New cars for both Craig Lowndes and Shane van Gisbergen are nearing completion at Triple Eight’s Queensland workshop ahead of their race debuts at the Clipsal 500.

The team has today released an image of Van Gisbergen’s chassis in the final stages of build ahead of his debut with the expanded three-car team this year.

Both cars are on course to be completed in time for the team’s pre-season test at Ipswich on February 18, where Lowndes is scheduled to drive despite breaking his collarbone last weekend.

The latest builds follow the debut of a new chassis for Jamie Whincup at last year’s Sandown 500.

“We wanted to start 2016 with all three drivers having brand new chassis,” Red Bull team manager Mark Dutton told the company’s website.

“We altered that plan slightly midway through 2015 when we debuted Jamie’s chassis 040 for Sandown, but for the other two we have stuck to the plan.”

While the Car of the Future V8 Supercars chassis are essentially a control item, Dutton says there’s always small areas for improvement.

Others to confirm plans to roll out new cars during the early stages of this season include Ford squads DJR Team Penske and Prodrive, which are currently building two new Falcons each.

“We expect and demand big things from all our chassis,” said Dutton.

“The level of attention to detail that is being put into this build is better than ever.

“We are constantly trying to improve what we do while not compromising reliability.”

The two new cars, dubbed 041 (Lowndes) and 042 (Van Gisbergen) in Triple Eight’s build sequence, bring the squad’s total COTF chassis tally to 12.

Tekno Autosports and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport also run Holdens in the V8 Supercars Championship that were built by Triple Eight, while Charlie Schwerkolt’s Team 18 joins the customer fold for 2016.

Schwerkolt has purchased a previously raced chassis for his new venture, while LDM expects to add a brand new Triple Eight built car to its existing stable by mid-season.

This year meanwhile sees Triple Eight COTF chassis also move into the Dunlop Series, with entries confirmed at Matt Stone Racing (Todd Hazelwood) and Kostecki Brothers Racing (Kurt and Jake Kostecki).