Shane van Gisbergen expects Anton De Pasquale will be the one to beat when the new Repco Supercars Championship season commences this weekend in Sydney.
The #11 Ford Mustang pilot was dominant across the four-part Sydney Motorsport Park swing, topping 22 of 32 sessions last year, including five wins and seven pole positions.
By contrast, van Gisbergen claimed three wins and just one pole position.
Having spent four weeks at the same circuit with little more than a few format and tyre changes, van Gisbergen expects little to change in the form guide.
“We tried some things [at the pre-season test] but I think it’s going to be pretty status quo for the first round,” he said.
“We’ve just spent four weeks there. Everyone has got pretty refined set-ups.
“I think Sydney is going to be pretty similar to normal. Then later in the year we’ll see who’s moved forward and who hasn’t.
“Most of the hype I guess is gone now. It’s a weird feeling going somewhere you’ve just been living at for four weeks.
“I’m still excited for it, but I reckon the season will start properly Round 2 onwards.”
However, the Kiwi is confident that the margin came down from the start to the finish of the Sydney sojourn and that it’ll be a tight contest.
“I think we closed up in qualifying,” said van Gisbergen.
“The start of those Sydneys, Anton was amazing in qualifying, and I do think we got better, but we’ll see.
“Qualifying is still their speciality I guess since Scotty [McLaughlin], so we still need to improve there.”
The Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight takes place across March 4-6.
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