Counties Manukau’s Shane van Gisbergen has major significant in-roads into his title deficit over the weekend in another dramatic Supercars round but has confirmed he plans to head to NASCAR next year.
Van Gisbergen tried a final lap move on then-championship leader Will Brown in Saturday’s night race at Sydney Motorsport Park – he made minimal contact with the back of Brown’s car before firing down the inside to claim the spot.
But as he pulled up to victory lane the race director confirmed a five-second penalty that dropped the Kiwi to seventh.
He made up for it on Sunday, claiming pole and then storming to a comfortable race win to move up to third in the standings and just 54 points adrift of new leader Brodie Kostecki. Brown is second; 13 ahead of Van Gisbergen.
But post-race, the three-time Supercars champion confirmed he planned to exit the category at the season’s end.
When asked if NASCAR was his next full-time goal, Van Gisbergen replied “yes”.
“There’s obviously a lot happening in the background, but I’m not leaving because of this team,” he explained.
“I love this team and, when I leave, I want to make sure that there’s someone here to replace me that’s going to do a good job in the car.
“You don’t want to leave the team with nothing and scrambling to find someone.
“A lot of the good drivers here are signed up. I want to leave with the team in a good spot.
“Hopefully the team has someone soon.”
Recent Comments