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Shane van Gisbergen has revealed that he has a new seat in his Red Bull Ampol Camaro in order to improve ergonomics.
The big Kiwi is one of the taller drivers in the Repco Supercars Championship field, which adopted Gen3 regulations this year.
A key issue with the new breed of race cars during development was ergonomics, with driver complaints including visibility and discomfort caused by the new seating position.
Supercars made changes to the spec during 2022, but now Triple Eight Race Engineering has made a further tweak for its #97 Camaro, and hence also co-driver Richie Stanaway had a new insert for today’s test at Queensland Raceway.
“We had to make a new seat because my legs keep cramping, the way you have to sit, so I’m kind of sitting all funky to try and get comfortable,” said van Gisbergen at the Ipswich circuit.
“So, he’s [Stanaway] had to make a new seat on top of that, but it seems to be a bit better for him.”
Stanway, who was driving a Gen3 Camaro for the first time since February, said, “It’s great to get more laps in the car.
“The main thing for me was getting comfortable in the car with a proper seat insert because, when I drove at the pre-season test in Sydney and the [QR test] day in February, I didn’t have a seat insert.
“To be fitting into the car properly now is a good feeling, to check that off the list.
“Driving with Shane, I was a bit anxious that I’d be very compromised on my [seating] position.
“Luckily with the sliding pedal box in the new car, I can get exactly how I want to sit in the car. We checked that off the list.”
All three of Triple Eight’s Camaros, including the Supercheap Auto wildcard, tested at Queensland Raceway today, with all six drivers (van Gisbergen/Stanaway, Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup, and Zane Goddard/Craig Lowndes) in action.
The Banyo-based squad was joined at the circuit by Dick Johnson Racing, Matt Stone Racing, and PremiAir Racing, with Brad Jones Racing completing its test day at Winton after calling it off 24 hours earlier due to wet weather.
The next event of the Supercars Championship season is the Betr Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley on June 16-18.
