By Dale Budge
Shane van Gisbergen has received plenty of criticism for not answering some tough questions at the Supercars post-race press conference on Sunday but things aren’t always what they seem from the outside.
On the face of it, and as a sports journalist that has been on the receiving end of that kind of approach from many sports people over the years, I would agree that he could be more accommodating to those just doing their job.
But put yourself in Van Gisbergen’s shoes and you might not be so quick to fire barbs his way.
Van Gisbergen is an introvert yet is by far and away the most in-demand driver in the category from a media and fan perspective. Everywhere he goes people want something from him – a quick comment, a quick autograph or photo.
And yes, that of course is part of being a professional race driver but the demands on Van Gisbergen are magnified tenfold compared to anyone else in the sport.
I experienced this first hand when he had his brief foray into rallying in New Zealand last year. I manage the championship’s media and had to work with him directly on his appearance in Napier and at Rally New Zealand. It blew me away with how people react to him.
It felt like everyone that he came across wanted something from him and that would get tiresome very quickly.
He is also a polarising figure – he is the guy everyone wants to beat, he races aggressively and often lives on the edge, which sparks more debate and discussion in him than anyone else.
Van Gisbergen was criticised by commentators and former drivers like Mark Skaife and Garth Tander but they are much more comfortable talking publicly and they were never as in demand as what the Manukau City product is.
Chad Neylon is the Supercars press conference MC and is one of the best in the business. The questions he asked were more than reasonable and he did well to compose himself in what would have been a challenging moment.
But while I feel for Neylon and the other journalists that need a quote from Van Gisbergen I can also understand his reluctance to give much of himself on Sunday given the events of the weekend.
His team was hit with dual disqualifications (despite a comfortable race win on Saturday) on a technical error that they believe they had cleared with Supercars. On Saturday he made some comments about the new cars that was taken as criticism and clearly there has been some blowback from it – Supercars appears to have insisted drivers only make positive statements about the Gen 3 cars that debuted this weekend.
So with some honesty on his part Saturday hurting him, and the old adage of “when you don’t have something positive to say, don’t say anything at all” ringing in his brain – there is perhaps some justification for letting his driving do the talking on Sunday.
Rumoured to be off contract this year, it appears Van GIsbergen is at a crossroads with the sport. He’s achieved everything there is to achieve – three titles, two Bathurst 1000 wins and has been nearly untouchable since Scott McLaughlin left for Indycars.
While Van Gisbergen has never revealed a desire to race permanently outside of Supercars, he hinted over the summer that the new cars need to be a better challenge than their predecessors.
I’m not sure the events of the weekend will have encouraged him to think about a contract extension just yet.
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