Chicago Presents Unique Challenge for Supercars Champ Shane van Gisbergen

Three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen makes his Cup Series debut on the streets of Chicago. Van Gisbergen has racing experience on street courses around Oceania, but the Windy City course presents a unique challenge.

“There’s a lot of anticipation from everyone for what the first street race is going to be like next,” van Gisbergen said during a press conference at Nashville Superspeedway. “I’m looking forward to it. The track is similar in some ways to tracks we have, but also pretty different with not much run-off and how narrow it is in spots.

“It’s going to be intense. Just trying to take it all in this week and see how it all works. The pit stops are quite different from what I’m used to, so just trying to understand that and how it works and get ready for it.”

The pit stops will not be the only change for van Gisbergen as he controls the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro. He will also have to drive on the other side of the car after climbing in through the window for the first time.

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Van Gisbergen Has a Limited Session To Prepare

As an international driver preparing to make his debut in the Cup Series, van Gisbergen will have the opportunity to take advantage of some rule changes. He will get to experience some laps in the Next Gen car before heading to Chicago.

NASCAR announced midway through the 2022 season that drivers with elite credentials in other series could take part in a limited test session before competing in NASCAR. They would have to receive a voucher from the sanctioning body to do so, and they would have to follow a specific set of rules.

For van Gisbergen, his session took place on June 26. He headed to Charlotte Motor Speedway so that he could gain some experience. He is familiar with the Chevrolet Camaro platform based on his time competing in Supercars, but there are still significant differences between the respective horsepower and aero packages. One big example is the massive wing that sits on the rear of van Gisbergen’s Red Bull Camaro.

“Yeah, so tomorrow, we’ve got a bit of a short test,” van Gisbergen said at Nashville Superspeedway. “Hopefully, the weather stays fine for it. And that’s just to get a feel and make sure I’m comfortable in the car and everything’s working. And then it’s all simulator stuff, really. I think I get two sessions in the simulator — just trying to learn and just get comfortable with the car.

“And then also the dynamic of the team with the engineers and crew chief and working out how that communication works. The strategy is quite different, so I have to do a lot of study on that. The pits closed when the yellow comes out. Don’t have a pit speed speedometer and stuff like that, so just learning how to manage that side of the race. It’s quite different.”

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Van Gisbergen Has Different Expectations for This Event

Van Gisbergen is quite familiar with success. He has the fourth-most wins in Supercars history, and he has celebrated three championships. Now he will join forces with Trackhouse Racing, a team that has celebrated four Cup Series wins since 2022.

While van Gisbergen will take over race-winning equipment, that doesn’t mean that he expects to come into NASCAR and contend for the win. Instead, he just wants to do his best while continuing to learn behind the wheel of the Next Gen car. Though a strong performance could potentially lead to more opportunities in other racing series in the future.

“It was a pretty exciting opportunity. I love Supercars and what I’m doing now, but starting to speak to Justin [Marks] about it last year and this year obviously sparked my interest in doing other things,” van Gisbergen said.

“I really just want to see how it goes. I haven’t been to America since before COVID time, so to be able to travel now and experience things again — yeah, we’ll see how it goes and maybe it will lead to more.”

 

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