The Kiwi is ready to make his NASCAR debut at the Chicago street race next weekend as a part of Trackhouse Racing’s Mission 91 programme.
He jetted into the USA late final week to start his preparations, which included being trackside with the group in Nashville over the weekend, watching team-mate Ross Chastain end a one-year winless spell.
The up-close expertise with oval racing has piqued van Gisbergen’s curiosity, the Kiwi admitting throughout a press convention forward of the race that he had itchy ft on the sidelines.
As such he is now very a lot open to NASCAR begin on a speedway sooner or later – and has even talked to Trackhouse boss Justin Marks about it.
“We had a small chat about that earlier,” mentioned van Gisbergen. “I’ve by no means actually considered ovals an excessive amount of, however you’d like to have a go.
“Watching yesterday how dedicated the fellows have been in qualifying… and so they had the observe and then you definitely sit round all day and also you get one lap.
“So to see how dedicated everybody was, and see who was braver than the others into flip 1, it was fairly cool to observe.
“It sucked watching, I needed to be on the market. So yeah, I’d need to have a go at some point.”
Van Gisbergen has accomplished a seat becoming and can get his first real-world NASCAR expertise at the moment when he samples the Trackhouse Chevrolet on the Charlotte Roval.
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Picture by: Edge Photographics
He’ll then head again to the simulator earlier than hitting the streets of Chicago subsequent weekend.
“That’s simply to get a really feel and be sure that I’m snug within the automobile and all the pieces is working, after which it’s all simulator stuff actually,” he defined.
“I feel I get two classes within the sim attempting to study and simply get snug with the automobile and likewise the dynamic of the group with the engineer and crew chief, figuring out how that communication works.
“The technique is sort of totally different, so I’ve obtained to do loads of research on that; clearly the pits shut when the yellow comes out, you don’t have a pit velocity limiter and stuff like that, so simply studying easy methods to handle that facet of the race is sort of totally different.
“After which clearly we’re not racing for factors so we don’t need to concentrate on the phases and stuff like that.
“I assume we have now obtained to return in and do our greatest, however you additionally have gotten to race with respect as nicely. These guys are combating for his or her championship each week, so have gotten to return in and keep out of hassle.”
Van Gisbergen is beneath contract with Triple Eight in Supercars till the tip of 2024, however has made little secret of his openness to an abroad transfer after that.