V8 Supercars’ youngest driver, New Zealand’s Shane Van Gisbergen showed he is again on the pace, finishing second fastest in practice in the third round of the V8 Supercar Championship in Adelaide today.
Van Gisbergen dominated practice in the SP Tools Falcon until the final minute when current champion Jamie Whincup grabbed the fastest time in his last lap.
“We started off with big (handling) issues and were forced to make two changes at once rushing all the way. By the time you go out, make a lap, come in then do it again it all becomes a bit of a blur so I’ll have to sit down and analyse the data tonight.
“We need to make the car easier to drive but then that makes it slower so it is a fine balance to make the car faster but not too hard to drive as you need confidence,” Whincup said.
Emphasising his increased maturity and prowess the 20-year old Van Gisbergen impressed following his two podiums in the opening two rounds in the Middle East.
“We were struggling a little bit early in the last session until we threw some springs into the car. I put another set of tyres on at the end to go for a time but then got held up by some traffic on both my last two laps. It is pretty hectic as you just have to switch your headlights on and go for it,” Van Gisbergen said.
“We had a strong car towards the end of last year and have kept working on it. It feels pretty cool to be aggressive at this track as you can get into it and scrape the mirrors against the wall. It has a lot of atmosphere and is a good place to be at.
“Overall I am pleased and looking forward to a big weekend before we can then set our sights on performing strongly when he head back to New Zealand for the next round.”
A solid third was Paul Dumbrell’s Bottle-O Falcon, run as a satellite team by Ford Performance Racing.
New Zealand’s Jason Richards (Team BOC Commodore) was fourth fastest after he ran new rubber in the closing stages to head Whincup’s team mate Craig Lowndes, the Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander, fellow kiwis Fabian Coulthard (Bundaberg Red Commodore) and Steven Richards(Ford Performance).
Tomorrow’s V8 Supercars activities begin with qualifying (10:30am ACST) followed by the Top 10 Shootout (11:30am) and the 78-lap Race 5 of the Series at 3:35pm. Sunday’s schedule features qualifying at 11:00am followed by the second 78-lap Race 6 at 2:35pm.
Practice 3
1 Jamie Whincup
2 Shane van Gisbergen
3 Paul Dumbrell
4 Jason Richards
5 Craig Lowndes
6 Garth Tander
7 Fabian Coulthard
8 Steve Richards
9 Tony D'Alberto
10 Tim Slade
11 Jonathon Webb
12 Alex Davison
13 Steven Johnson
14 Mark Winterbottom
15 Lee Holdsworth
16 Rick Kelly
17 Michael Caruso
18 Todd Kelly
19 Jason Bright
20 James Courtney
21 Will Davison
22 Karl Reindler
23 Dean Fiore
24 Russell Ingall
25 Jason Bargwanna
26 Greg Murphy
27 Tony Ricciardello
28 Daniel Gaunt
29 Andrew Thompson
