T8 still hopeful of SVG enduro tilt

Triple Eight Race Engineering has not given up on the notion of Shane van Gisbergen returning to the team as an enduro co-driver next year.

Van Gisbergen completed his final event for Triple Eight as a full-time driver at the Vailo Adelaide 500, and moves to the United States next month to pursue a career in NASCAR.

Speaking in Adelaide, Team Manager Mark Dutton left the door open for the three-time Bathurst 1000 winner to rejoin the squad for next year’s Great Race and Sandown 500.

“We’re hoping calendars and desires work out for next year [because] we’d love to have him back for the enduros, obviously,” he said.

Having won on his NASCAR debut in Chicago with Trackhouse Racing, and then finished 10th on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, van Gisbergen signed on with the team for the 2024 season.

Under what has been termed a “Developmental Program,” he is set to make starts in all three national series (Cup, Xfinity, Trucks) as well as Late Models.

A clash between the Charlotte ‘roval’ race and the Bathurst 1000, on the weekend of Sunday, October 13, suggests it is unlikely that the New Zealander would be available.

Triple Eight signed now former Team 18 pilot Scott Pye as one of its enduro steerers for 2024, but that does not necessarily mean it is a full house in the Red Bull Ampol Camaros for next year’s two-driver races.

Jamie Whincup, who won the Sandown 500 this year with Broc Feeney, told Speedcafe last month that he would step down if van Gisbergen returns.

While his own 2024 calendar is yet to be locked in, if SVG does head back to Australia for the enduros, it could be for the last time, given his goal is to be a full-time Cup Series driver in 2025.

Dutton said in Adelaide that the Kiwi has been successful in such a vast array of categories, including a podium in WRC2 on his World Rally Championship debut, because of his commitment.

“It’s been fantastic to work with Shane across the years,” he remarked.

“Obviously, we had a lot of respect for him before he joined Triple Eight and we had that relationship while he was at Tekno [Autosports].

“We had a technical deal with them so I got to work with him before he even worked for Triple Eight.

“Seeing his work rate and the passion, commitment to motorsport, I think there’s no surprise why he’s had the success not just in supercars, but with everything he tries his hand at, motorsport-wise, so it’s been an amazing journey.”

Van Gisbergen finished his last full-time Supercars season, at least for the foreseeable future, with a double DNF in Adelaide, where his unlikely bid to overhaul Brodie Kostecki and win the championship again was over almost as soon as it started.

In some small consolation, he was voted by fans as Most Popular Driver for the third year in a row, as part of the championship’s annual Gala Awards.