Supercars Townsville: Shane van Gisbergen to take huge championship gamble
With Covid threatening to shorten the season, Shane van Gisbergen is ready to risk everything in Townsville.
Shane van Gisbergen will not be conserving what could prove to be a championship winning lead in Townsville with the Holden hero declaring he is in North Queensland to race.
With Covid threatening to shorten the season and what could prove a deal-sealing 600 points on offer in Townsville’s double header, van Gisbergen vowed to launch an all-out assault in a gamble that could lead to a championship-costing crash.
“I don’t think about (the championship) like that,” he said. “It is just one round at a time. I just go out to score as many points as possible.”
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More than 200 points ahead of his nearest rival on the championship ladder, van Gisbergen said he will not be changing the aggressive style of driving.
While his speed has never been an issue, the one-time champion may already have another title to his name had it been not been for his high-risk style.
“Whatever happens, happens,” he said. “I am here to race.”
The Red Bull racer did however admit to learning from his all-conquering teammate Jamie Whincup when it came to racing in Townsville. Whincup has won 12 races on the Reed Park circuit in a feat that has seen him dubbed “King of the North”.
“Getting to see his data and driving style here over the last few years, you can see why he is so fast here,” van Gisbergen said. “I have tried to learn and emulate that myself. Jamie is certainly the benchmark.”
Set to race on back to back weekends on the same track after Covid saw the Winton round of the championship cancelled, van Gisbergen and Whincup look set to go head-to-head for the points.
Van Gisbergen also has a happy history in Townsville having roared across the line for five wins, but claimed he was not entitled to favouritism.
“We all had two events here last year so everyone knows the track as well as I do,” he said.
Rising from the Reid Park ashes
- Matthew Elkerton
Brad Jones Racing literally rose from the ashes of their 2019 campaign at Reid Park with a dominant display last year.
A year after Nick Percat was embroiled in a dramatic pit lane fire that engulfed his vehicle and forced a flurry of action from pit crews, the BJR team were again scorching the Reid Park circuit.
But this time it was in the times, with BJR teammates Percat and Todd Hazelwood both qualifying in pole and the team even securing a front row lockout.
The dynamic duo have returned to Reid Park this year but they aren’t resting on the laurels of last year’s heroics.
The team failed to convert their pole positions in 2020, with a late safety car holding up Hazelwood from overtaking leader Scott McLaughlin on fresh tyres and forcing the pair to settle for sixth and seventh in the race.
Percat said it was time to turn that qualifying form into winning form as he hunts for his first piece of Supercars silverware at Townsville.
“I have great memories up here. I have won in every category I have been in up here. I had battles with Chaz (Mostert) and McLaughlin in Super 2s, good races in Porsche and I was in pole position last year,” he said.
“The fire wasn’t great, but the crew was in the hot seat for that one.
“I love coming up here, but I haven’t had a trophy in the main game. That is the aim, to come home with silverware.”
Percat, who sits seventh in the Supercars Championship behind Mark Winterbottom, believes the BJR team has turned a corner in recent rounds and will continue to improve in Townsville.
Whether it is the machine underneath him or the road surface beneath that, Percat knows he has the ability to get the most out of the circuit which is a blend of permanent track and road surface.
“I think any street track where you can hustle it up against the concrete and fly across kerbs on two wheels. I feel they are tracks where drivers can make a difference with the car,” he said.
“You can manipulate it to where you want to be, track placement and how much risk you take. The atmosphere is amazing but also fun to drive.
“The goal coming in is about tyre life. This weekend’s race, being the fuel drop in the long race, will be a challenge for everyone. Back to long races, it is hard on drivers and cars.
“I am looking forward to long races, the sprint format at the moment has been a bit dull. We come out of pits, put two tyres on it, and if you can’t get past the person in two laps that is it. You sit there for the race.
“I look forward to the team being able to manipulate it a bit more, go long with fuel and short. It is up to the driver to make the strategy work.”
Hazelwood also has a love for the street circuit.
He proved that last year when he qualified in the first three rows of the grid three times in six races.
But the 25-year-old, who is in his second season with BJR, is adamant he has “unfinished business” on track.
“I love being back on street circuits in a Supercar. It is the ultimate challenge to hustle a Supercar around the streets and the concrete jungle we are renowned for,” he said.
“You really have to roll the sleeves up and be aggressive. That suits the way I drive the car. It is the ultimate commitment from a driving point of view. You only get what you put into it. You have to be super close to the walls, you have to be scraping the mirrors and then flying across the kerbs.
“You really need to attack and from my point of view it seems to be what gets the most out of me as a driver.
“Last year was really good for us, we got a pole position which was my personal first and we got a front row lockout. We led for majority of the last race last year until the dying stages with that late safety car. From my point of view, we have unfinished business and keen to get into it.”
Hazelwood will be determined to rediscover his qualifying success of last season with the young driver struggling to climb his way up the grid this season.
The Brad Jones Racing driver, who will don the Pizza Hut livery in Townsville this weekend, has not qualified higher than 15th this season.
While he has shown solid race pace, improving his position in all but one race this season, Hazelwood knows without improving his one-lap times, he won’t crack the top 10 this season.
With BJR yet to offer him a long-term contract, Hazelwood will be fighting for his future on the Reid Park circuit.
“I am working hard to make sure we can bounce back this year. Get the car back at the pointy end of the field,” Hazelwood said.
“It has been a lean start to the year for the team at BJR and myself. I am hungry to get some strong results this weekend and get back into contention.”
Originally published as Supercars Townsville: Shane van Gisbergen to take huge championship gamble
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