Shane van Gisbergen “singlehandedly raised the level” of Triple Eight Race Engineering, according to Team Principal Jamie Whincup.
Van Gisbergen is now off to the United States and a new career in NASCAR after 16-and-a-half seasons in Supercars, almost half of which was spent at Triple Eight.
He made an instant impact at what was already a powerhouse of the category, edging then six-time champion Whincup to the drivers’ title in 2016 then adding two more, in 2021 and 2022.
Despite obvious dissatisfaction with the new-for-2023 Gen3 race cars and Supercars broadly, the New Zealander was in the hunt for three in a row all the way until an unfortunate crash on the opening lap of the penultimate race of the campaign.
Nevertheless, he leaves Supercars – at least for the time being – with three each of Bathurst 1000 wins and championship titles, all of which were achieved with Triple Eight, and a total of 80 race wins.
On the latter metric, SVG is fourth all-time, while his 21 in the 2022 season alone is a single-season record.
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“It’s been a tough, in particular, six months for SVG and unfortunately it didn’t end as well as we would have liked [in Adelaide], but you’ve almost got to put that to the side,” Whincup told Speedcafe after the final race of the 2023 campaign.
“He’s been with us for eight years and won three championships and done an absolutely phenomenal job.
“Of course, we like to think he was driving the quickest car the whole time, but he singlehandedly raised the level of our team and the category and we massively thank him for that, and he’s going to be missed, no doubt.
“But, it’s time for him to take on a new challenge and we wish him all the best, and no doubt it’ll get a spark in his eye when he moves over to the US.
“It’s going to be new, fresh, and I think that’s exactly what he needs and we’re looking forward to seeing how he goes.”
Van Gisbergen had signed one for a new, ‘one-plus-one’ deal in the months before his career-changing NASCAR debut in the most recent July.
Next year, he will drive for the team which fielded him for that sensational Chicago victory, Trackhouse Racing, while Triple Eight has signed Will Brown to join Broc Feeney in the Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaros in 2024.
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