Lucas Oil’s Shane van Gisbergen heads to Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend gunning for a return to the front at one of his favourite circuits.
Van Gisbergen, who celebrated his 100th round start in V8 Supercars at the last round in Ipswich, came away from the event at Queensland Raceway with 177 points care of two 10th places and a fourth.
However, the star driver is hopeful that pace shown by his VIP Petfoods/Lucas Oil Commodore at the pre-season SMP test in February will translate to better results this weekend – crucial for a potential title bid later in the season.
“It’s a pretty important time for us at the moment,” Van Gisbergen said.
“We need good results this week, and a strong endurance campaign if we want a shot at the title. If we can do that, we’ll definitely move back up the leaderboard.”
Van Gisbergen has already won four races in 2014: three at the non-championship Australian Grand Prix, and a famous victory during the ANZAC Day weekend in the ITM 400 Auckland.
The Lucas Oil-backed driver last raced at SMP in 2012, with his best result seventh.
The event, which didn’t feature on last year’s calendar, follows the SuperSprint format – with three races over two days.
There will be two 100km races on Saturday, and a 200km feature on Sunday; and drivers will have allocations of both the soft and hard tyres.
Shane van Gisbergen, #97 VIP Petfoods/Lucas Oil Holden VF Commodore:
“Ipswich wasn’t too bad for us. The fourth place was OK, but unfortunately it wasn’t in the big points race on Sunday.
“I’m looking forward to the Sydney Motorsport Park weekend. Our car was good at the test there, so hopefully it translates to results.
“It’s a great race track with a lot of history. I like to think that it will suit our car, and that we can have a good weekend. But we won’t know until we get there.
“The mixed tyre rounds, when we use both hard and soft tyres, usually make for great racing. So it should be great for drivers and fans alike.”
Thoughts on Sydney Motorsport Park:
"The lap starts off with one of the best corners of the year, Turn 1. You brake from 265km/h in top gear at the end of the straight, and just turn in and hold on. You change down to third gear, but you’re flying through there.
"Most of the middle sector is nice and flowing. Then the last sector has a hairpin and another few tight corners – so the track changes completely as you go through the lap.
"It’s quite cool to have such a wide variety of corners throughout the lap, but it does make it quite challenging from a technical point of view to set up the VIP Petfoods/Lucas Oil Holden Commodore for it. It’s a great circuit, and we’re looking forward to getting to grips with it."
2014 Sydney Motorsport Park 400 Schedule:
Saturday, 23 August
09:00 – 09:30 Practice 1
10:30 – 11:00 Practice 2
12:30 – 12:40 Race 26 Qualifying
12:50 – 13:00 Race 27 Qualifying
14:25 – 15:15 Race 26 (26 laps)
16:30 – 17:20 Race 27 (26 laps)
Sunday, 24 August
12:40 – 13:00 Race 28 Qualifying
15:50 – 17:15 Race 25 (51 laps)
*N.B. The above times are all in Australian Eastern Standard Time.
2014 V8 Supercars Championship Series
Top 10 Drivers' Championship Points
Jamie Whincup: 1790
Mark Winterbottom: 1775
Craig Lowndes: 1628
James Courtney: 1598
Fabian Coulthard: 1535
Shane van Gisbergen: 1532
Scott McLaughlin: 1347
Chaz Mostert: 1322
Garth Tander: 1309
David Reynolds: 1201
Top 10 Teams' Championship Points
Red Bull Racing Australia: 3468
Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford: 3122
Holden Racing Team: 2932
Brad Jones Racing: 2660
Norton Hornets: 2101
Erebus Motorsport: 2075
Wilson Security Racing: 1913
Valvoline Racing GRM: 1878
Jack Daniel's Racing: 1702
Tekno Autosports: 1557
* Single-car team.
