Shane van Gisbergen and Triple Eight Race Engineering have a “system” to deal with his “outside distractions” as he pushes for a career switch to NASCAR.
The three-time Supercars champion is all but certain to move to the United States at the end of the year, and almost as likely to compete in NASCAR with the Trackhouse Racing team.
It is indeed Trackhouse which has fielded him in his two Cup Series starts to date, at Chicago in early-June and then last weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, as well as arranging an oval debut with Niece Motorsports in the Trucks Series event at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Meanwhile, though, van Gisbergen is still well and truly in the hunt for a third straight Supercars title, climbing to third place at 54 points off the championship lead with his win in the most recent race of the season.
Asked about that juggling act, he said, “It’s been okay; like, we’ve had plenty of time between races [so] you have plenty of time to prepare.
“We’re only doing 12 races [events] this year, so it’s very spread out.
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“But, my team [Triple Eight] has been awesome and the communication’s been really good.
“We know each other’s intentions for the future, which is great, and we’re working through it together.
“All our race weeks [in Supercars], it’s been business as usual there.
“We have been struggling with the car [but] we got a new chassis for the last race and we were back on the pace, so we got some momentum going there.
“There are a lot of outside distractions, I guess, but we’ve got a really good sort of system in place to just, when it’s go time, we’re ready.”
Consistent with van Gisbergen’s comments, Triple Eight appears to have even held off on its confirmation that Will Brown will replace him in 2024 so as not to cause a distraction during his latest NASCAR foray.
Erebus Motorsport announced Brown’s release less than 24 hours before the New Zealander took to IRP in a Chevrolet Silverado, yet Triple Eight’s immediate response was to advise that van Gisbergen was still a contracted driver and that they will reveal their own news when they are good and ready.
Indeed, the following day, Triple Eight Team Principal Jamie Whincup stated that some sort of announcement was days away anyway, but that the squad was “respecting [van Gisbergen’s] job this weekend.”
There could be more ‘distractions’ from SVG’s Supercars commitments in the form of further NASCAR starts, based on comments he made ahead of the Indianapolis Trucks race.
“Obviously, I’ve been speaking with Justin [Marks, Trackhouse co-owner] a lot about the future and this [Trucks start] was another thing that came into his head,” he explained.
“Yeah, ‘Why don’t we jump in and do this race?’
“So, as far as the rest of the year goes, I’m not sure, but [considering] how late this one came up, never say never ‘til the end of the year.”
The NASCAR Cup Series continues this weekend on another road course, namely Watkins Glen, although van Gisbergen will be back in the #97 Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro Supercar, competing in the OTR SuperSprint at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park.
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