Tekno Autosports team owner Jonathon Webb believes Shane van Gisbergen can mount a serious challenge against the might of Red Bull Racing next year.
The New Zealand driver has won three of the past seven races and he was in a great position to win Bathurst last month but a stall and a dodgy starter motor towards the end of the 1000km race ended his hopes.
Van Gisbergen’s racing style may not make him the most popular driver in pit lane as he can overstep the lines of what’s considered good racing etiquette to get past another car.
But there’s no denying how quick he is on the track, and he’s benefiting from being in a car that is flying.
Webb believes all those signs point to a great 2015.
“Red Bull do a good job and at the moment they’re more consistent if nothing else,” Webb told Sunday News.
“They don’t win every race but they’re always in that top group and that’s where we need to make sure we are repeatedly next year to be in the hunt come Homebush (the last round each season).”
Tekno dropped down to one car this year, returning the Racing Entitlement Contract they had leased to Paul Morris Motorsport. “Back to one (car) has made quite a change this year,” Webb said.
“We’ve kept working and Shane’s feeling more comfortable in the car and more comfortable with the team this year.
“We’ve had our ups and downs and obviously haven’t won or been on the podium as many times as we wanted, but we’ll keep pushing on.”
There were rumours that Team Tekno will return to being a two-car operation next year, but there is a risk some of the attention would leave Van Gisbergen.
“At the moment I’m not pushing it too much,” Webb said about going to two cars.
“I want to make sure we continue to do one right. If two falls into place then we’ll take it as it comes.
“Obviously 100 per cent of what Tekno does is behind Shane and the one car. When you bring another one on, you still try to put as much into that car but you do have another one to think about as well.”
Team Tekno’s car is provided to them by Triple Eight, so even if they stick with one car for 2015 Webb believes the team will still have the resources to mount a title challenge for Van Gisbergen.
“I don’t see why not,” he said.
“There are a couple of things where it does make it tough only having one car, but we’ve also got that bit of support with Triple Eight. We work with them a bit and we know we’ve got a good car to do the job and it’s up to us to make it work.”
