MOTORSPORT: Supercars to sizzle in Sydney
Shane van Gisbergen in everyone’s sights as Supercars returns with quadruple-header at SMPRunaway leader Shane van Gisbergen is in everyone’s sights as the Repco Supercars Championship resumes with four back-to-back weekends of racing leading up to the grand final at Mount Panorama on December 5.
The quadruple-header is being run at Sydney Motorsport Park with a variety of race formats and tyre allocations, as well as night races, leading up to twin 250km mini-enduro races in preparation for the Repco Bathurst 1000.
“Gizzy is the one we have to beat,” said veteran James Courtney, who has just locked in a fresh three-year contract extension but is yet to win for Tickford Racing.
“He’s the target. But it will be fun just to get back to racing. It’s been a long, long break.”
Van Gisbergen knows the Sydney circuit has not been kind to him and the Red Bull Ampol Racing team. But he is a racer’s racer who is already hoping to be competing overseas in 2021 under less-stringent COVID restrictions.
“I’m ready to go racing. Should be a fun finish to the year,” said van Gisbergen.
“I’m raring to go. It should be good.”
He refuses to talk about the likelihood of a second championship, following his title in 2016, because Bathurst alone pays 300 points for a win and he is “only” 170 in front.
While SvG is happy to race, he is less happy about the formats at SMP and mixing compounds of Dunlop tyres in the same races.
“I read mixed tyres and I lost interest pretty quick. I think it’s stupid,” he said.
“I think it’s not too much of a lottery, like last year. I think there should still be some genuine racing, but I don’t like when they mix things up, and don’t give you enough tyres, and stuff.
“You want to see the best cars winning, and feel like you’re a deserved winner. Well, I do, anyway.”
One of the drivers looking to build on his smart start is Tim Slade, who has made a successful transition to the Ford Mustang with the tiny CoolDrive team.
“I’m excited to get back into it, like I guess we all are after such a long break. I haven’t even seen the team since we raced in Townsville, because they are in Melbourne and I’m on the Gold Coast,” said Slade.
His tiny CoolDrive team has a new look for the first race at SMP and has just completed a test a Winton in rural Victoria, where his team boss and Bathurst co-driver Tim Blanchard cut laps.
“It was good for him to get a taste ahead of Bathurst,” said Slade.
There is another Bathurst connection for Slade at SMP, as he will be returning to the rebuilt Ford Mustang that he crashed while challenging for third place in the sprint season opener at Mount Panorama.
“It will be good to get back into the Bathurst car. But it’s hard to predict where we will be, because tyre life is a key component at SMP. Hopefully my car will be kind on tyres again, like it was in Townsville.”
Slade is speaking for most of the Supercars pack when he talks about a form guide for the resumption of racing.
“Championship-wise, I think that’s done and dusted. It’s Shane. Looking at the races at SMP last year, I think he will be extremely strong,” he said.
“But Jamie Whincup is second on points and his results speak for themselves, so you can never write him off. He should be extremely strong.
“And then it’s probably the DJR guys, Anton de Pasquale and Will Davison, because they had some good speed there last year. I expect them to come back stronger than ever.
“There is no reason why Shane is not going to continue the run he is on, but I don’t think he will have it all his own way.”
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