SVG gets it done in Supercars season opener.
Kiwi Supercar ace, Shane van Gisbergen, was front and centre of the action on and off the track at the first race of the Supercars 2023 season.
Mar 13, 2023
New cars, new season, and new drama wrapped up the Newcastle round of the Australian Supercar series.
While the focus should have been on the performance of the new Gen 3 cars debuting this season and the exciting return to the streets of Newcastle after a Covid hiatus, the cars, event and some great racing was overshadowed by a technical dispute and a tense exchange during the press conference.
Before the off-track drama, the weekend started promisingly for race fans, with Gen3 cars setting some impressive times on their first outing. It had been three years since Supercars last raced on the street circuit, and qualifying times were within a second of the best qualifying times of the previous generation cars. With further data and insight, this is a good indicator that teams will extract even more speed from the Camaros and Mustangs as the season progresses.
The practice and qualifying sessions also saw a good mix of drivers at the front of the field, with a welcome return of fan favourites Brodie Kostecki (Erebus Racing) and David Reynolds (Grove Racing) taking pole respectively for Race one and two.
However, Shane van Gisbergen drove a faultless race to cross the line first in race one, demonstrating that he still has the winning form and race craft that has seen him dominate the series in recent years.
Unfortunately, his win was ultimately denied after a technical infringement around the location of a dry ice cooling box saw both Red Bull Ampol Racing cars disqualified. While there doesn’t appear to have been any direct performance benefit, the location of the unit was in an area that minimised side intrusion impact in an accident. Red Bull Ampol Racing appealed the ruling, saying that some technical details of the new cars were still not communicated fully to teams, and it was their impression that the cooling system was okay in that location.
Starting fifth on the grid, van Gisbergen reeled in the margin between himself and the front runners, Chaz Mostert and Dave Reynolds, and positioned himself for a signature late-race sprint. Once past Reynolds, he still faced a huge 8.8-second deficit over Mostert, with 25 laps to go. However, with fresher tyres, van Gisbergen was on the hunt. By lap 83, van Gisbergen had Mostert in view, having negated thick traffic.
On lap 85, van Gisbergen attacked for the lead. Mostert appeared to return to the racing line but was shuffled wide by van Gisbergen. In response, Mostert made contact with van Gisbergen at Turn 11.
Mostert couldn’t match the pace of the #97 Camaro, and van Gisbergen would win by a healthy 4.4 seconds.
Still visibly aggrieved by the earlier disqualification, van Gisbergen cut a trackside interview short and refused to answer questions at the post-race press conference, causing the conference mediator and journalist, Chad Neylon, to become frustrated in a tense stand-off.
Red Bull Ampol Racing did release the following quote from van Gisbergen post-race.
“I want to say a huge thank you to the Red Bull Ampol Racing team for their efforts in a faultless weekend. Both of our cars were awesome all weekend, and I like to think all of our talking was done on the track today. To get another race win to start the season is awesome, and I’m so proud of everyone at the team for what they’ve achieved. I also want to thank all of the fans in Newcastle – it was great to be back here.”
