Shane van Gisbergen says he will have no concerns placing his Supercars title bid in the hands of Alex Premat, despite minimal pre-Sandown miles for the Frenchman.
The Las Vegas-based Premat will be absent for today’s second dedicated co-driver practice session at Queensland Raceway in the lead-up to the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
Premat, 34, was a surprise signing by Triple Eight over the off-season after parting ways with Garry Rogers Motorsport.
The former GP2 and Audi Le Mans driver earned a reputation as being fast but incident prone during four years at GRM, the first two of which he was a full-time driver.
Co-drivers will again play a critical role in this year’s Supercars Championship battle, which Van Gisbergen finds himself well in the mix for after seven events.
The Kiwi is just 53 points behind team-mate Jamie Whincup, who will be partnered by Paul Dumbrell in the enduros for the fifth consecutive year.
While Dumbrell is also absent from Ipswich today due to business commitments overseas, he remains a Supercars regular via the Dunlop Series.
Premat by contrast has only done limited racing this year and will arrive for Triple Eight’s pre-Sandown test day in September having not driven a Supercar since last October.
“There will be a lot of pressure on all of the co-drivers,” Van Gisbergen told Speedcafe.com.
“It’s a big job because it’s not just about keeping it off the wall and handing it back, they’ve got to be within half a second (of the primary driver) around Bathurst.
“He (Premat) has been in good cars in pressure situations the last couple of years with Scotty (McLaughlin), so I’ve got no issues with him handling the pressure.
“He lost his drive in the American series (United Sportscar) unfortunately, but he’s still doing plenty of laps in his cars (Exotics Racing school in Las Vegas) so I’ve got no problem there.
“I’m feeling good about it. We had a couple of good options at the start of the year but when he was available and got on the phone it was a no-brainer to take him.”
Although eager to win the year’s biggest races, Van Gisbergen leaves no uncertainty when asked which he rates higher out of a maiden Bathurst 1000 win or the championship.
“That’s not even a question for me, it’s always the championship,” he said.
“The 12 Hour was cool to win and the 1000 would be cool to win but it’s a full year effort.
“Everyone works hard the whole year for the championship. I’d rather win that.”
With Red Bull having asserted itself at the top of the pecking order across the recent Hidden Valley and Townsville meetings, Van Gisbergen enters the team’s home event at Ipswich full of confidence.
This weekend will again likely see the 27-year-old duking it out with Whincup, who left Townsville frustrated after getting the raw end of a mid-race strategy switch in the Sunday race.
Stressing that the team did what it had to in order to get the best overall result, Van Gisbergen downplayed talk that the tension will build as the title fight reaches its pointy end.
“At the moment I’m not really focussed on it,” he said of the battle with Whincup.
“For me, the last few rounds have been about sorting out the car for myself and we’ve taken a step forward.
“I won’t worry about racing him until after the enduros if we are in a position to be focussing on the championship.
“At the moment it’s just weekend by weekend racing everyone out there.”
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