Supercars ace Shane van Gisbergen said he has no expectations heading into his NASCAR debut in Chicago this weekend.
Two weeks after the last Supercars event in Darwin, van Gisbergen will muscle around a Chevrolet Camaro NASCAR Cup series car – an altogether different beast to the one he pilots in the Supercars series – in the series’ inaugural street race in Chicago on Lake Michigan
He attended a race meeting last weekend in Nashville, which was won by his Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain – the man remembered most for his epic wall-ride to steal a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs last season – before getting his first taste of the car at Charlotte through the week.
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The Supercars star will become the first New Zealander to race in the series.
“I don’t really have any (expectations), results-wise,” van Gisbergen told media.
“I just want to do my best. I’ve prepared as well as I can, and I know the Trackhouse team runs some awesome cars, meeting everyone and seeing how motivated they are.”
Considering van Gisbergen’s strength on street tracks in the Supercars series, and the fact this is NASCAR’s first foray into street tracks, van Gisbergen could be an outside chance to snag a strong result.
“There’s nothing wrong with the equipment and the preparation, so I have no expectations, results-wise, but if I’m prepared the best I can be, we can achieve anything,” he said.
While a bulk of the NASCAR calendar is made of oval races, the series makes select appearances at road courses throughout the year. The Chicago race is the third of six road races for the year.
The car is a third entry by Trackhouse Racing the team runs at select events throughout the year, usually piloted by international drivers. The team ran 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen at Watkins Glen in 2022 and Circuit of the Americas in April.
The 2009 F1 champion, Jenson Button, will also be in the Chicago field, making his second start for the year.
Earlier this week, van Gisbergen indicated he would also be up for returning to the series for an oval race.
He admitted he’s even had conversations about it with Trackhouse team boss Justin Marks.
“We had a small chat about that earlier. I’ve never really thought about ovals too much but you’d love to have a go,” he told Motorsport.com after his visit to the Nashville race.
“Like, watching how committed the guys were in qualifying … and they had the practice and then you sit around all day and you get one lap. So to see how committed everyone was, and see who was braver than the others into turn one, it was pretty cool to watch.
“It sucked watching, I wanted to be out there. So yeah, I’d want to have a go one day.”
Van Gisbergen and the rest of the NASCAR field will get their first taste of the Chicago street track – which was first designed by renowned racing simulator iRacing – in practice on Sunday morning (AEST), before the race on Monday morning (AEST).
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