Last week we had the news that Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) and Red Bull Ampol Racing have renewed their contract with a multi-year contract extension, driving the #97 Chevrolet Camaro in the Repco Supercars Championship. This has to be great news for the series, fans, SVG and the team as it gives continuity and certainty for the ‘years’ ahead. In some ways, it also says everything about what is both right and wrong with the Supercars Championship.
It was 2007 that van Gisbergen made his Supercars debut with Team Kiwi Racing at the Jim Beam 400 at Oran Park Raceway, the eighth round of the V8 Supercars season. Since then, he has amassed 462 Supercars race starts, 76 race victories, 174 podiums and three championships (2016, 2021, 2022).
Prior to this he finished third in the 2004/05 NZ Formula First Championship, going on to win the 2005/06 NZ Formula Ford Championship title and then finishing runner up to Daniel Gaunt in the 2006/07 Toyota Racing Series. I remember, at that time, that we expected him to go onto a single seater career and head to Europe, such was his unmistakable talent.
No, van Gisbergen was set on Australia and, it appeared, all he wanted to do was to race in the V8 Supercars Series. And so, he did.
I also recall that this seemed a short-sighted decision as the Australian Supercars series is arguably a dead-end for drivers. Few, if any, have moved on to higher motorsports careers while previously a number of drivers first tried their ‘luck’ overseas, exhausted all options and more particularly their money supply and came home.
Marcus Ambrose, winner of the 2003 and 2004 V8 Supercars Championships, headed to the US to compete in NASCAR from 2006 through to 2014, competing in the Craftsman Truck, Busch, Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series with a few race wins but never really breaking into the top ten in any series.
Scott McLaughlin, winner of three consecutive Supercar titles (2018, 2019, 2020) is currently in the US competing in the NTT IndyCar Series and may well have the opportunity to move into NASCAR with his Penske team.
Van Gisbergen was the start, of what appears to be the way now, of very young drivers heading straight for the series with little overseas experience.
Which leaves several questions on the table. What do they do and where do they go once they are finished with Supercars? Is this new talent too young and immature to be on the Supercars grid? Are they diluting the competitiveness of the field due to their lack of experience?
Has SVG and Red Bull Ampol Racing signed a deal because they both mutually need each other? Where would SVG go if he wanted to move on and away from Supercars?
Now, I don’t actually know van Gisbergen although I’ve interviewed him several times, but I get the feeling that he doesn’t really care to much about his career. He comes across as less preoccupied with his next career move, compared with many other drivers and more focused on the next race, the next driving opportunity, the next ‘kick’ that he gets out of racing anything on four-wheels.
Supercars needs him! His talent is head and shoulders above the rest of the field (which could be described as average). His talent is the benchmark for those up-and-coming young drivers to aspire to, and he has the experience to boot.
Shane van Gisbergen is an extraordinary talent performing in one of the best touring car series in the world. While it may be a ‘dead-end’, let’s enjoy the show, it’s always a good one.
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