Shane van Gisbergen has confirmed that it is indeed his intention to leave Supercars for NASCAR next year.
Van Gisbergen spoke about “leaving” during the post-Race 19 press conference at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight as though his mind is already made up.
He was then asked by Speedcafe Newscast’s Mark Fogarty to clarify if that meant it his plan to switch full-time to NASCAR next year, if possible.
“I don’t know if I’ll be full-time,” he responded.
When asked if his intention is to race in NASCAR if he can, the New Zealander replied, “Yes.”
Van Gisbergen is theoretically tied to Triple Eight Race Engineering for at least 2024 under the terms of the contract he signed in April, but the team is not going to stand in the way if he does wish to depart even earlier than that.
While the three-time Supercars champion’s intention to leave is now unequivocal and on the record, he does have some hesitation given the difficulty in replacing him.
“There’s obviously a lot happening in the background, but I’m not leaving because of this team,” he explained.
“Like, I love this team and, when I leave, I want to make sure that there’s someone here to replace me that’s going to do a good job in the car.
“You don’t want to leave the team with nothing, and scrambling to find someone.
“A lot of the good drivers here are signed up, so, yeah, I want to leave with the team in a good spot.
“Hopefully the team has someone soon.”
While van Gisbergen indicated he may race in NASCAR part-time in 2024, he clarified that he would not be able to do both that and Supercars.
The Triple Eight Team Principal also admitted he wanted an answer before SVG makes his second NASCAR Cup Series start on the weekend of Sunday, August 13 at Indianapolis, but said there was not a hard deadline per se.
Van Gisbergen said this evening, “I don’t have a timeline on it.”
The 34-year-old also refused to elaborate on his remark during a post-qualifying television interview earlier today, specifically, “I agree with what Waters said.”
That was an apparent reference to Cameron Waters’ radio blow-up on the night prior when, in response to receiving a penalty, he fumed, “What the f**k is wrong with this sport?” before adding, “They wonder why all their drivers want to f***en leave them.”
“I don’t need to say any more on that, do I?” van Gisbergen remarked to Speedcafe’s question on what he meant.
“He made it pretty clear last night.”
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