New Zealand’s Shane van Gisbergen, one of the V8 Supercars’ most impressive young stars, made an odd but expected announcement when it was confirmed he’ll step aside from the sport after next weekend’s V8 season finale.
In the official release posted Thursday, van Gisbergen offered a rather cryptic explanation regarding his decision and also thanked his Stone Brothers Racing team.
“I am leaving V8 Supercars due to personal reasons which I do not wish to discuss in the public domain. I will be moving back home to New Zealand and have no fixed plans for the future,” he said.
“I have enjoyed a five successful years with Stone Brothers Racing and was given as unique opportunity by the team to race V8s at a very young age, which I am very grateful for.”
Rumors have swirled around the lead driver for the championship-winning SBR outfit during the past few weeks, with the 23-year-old’s displeasure at SBR’s move from fielding Fords to building (unproven) customer AMG Mercedes cited as the cause of the fracture between himself and the team.
Now, with the fracture about to become a clean break, SBR is on the lookout for a new driver and van Gisbergen has chosen to park himself – just as the series moves to the new Car of the Future platform that has AMG Mercedes and Nissan joining Ford and Holden in 2013.
But with his career on the rise, how did he arrive at this ballsy conclusion?
Van Gisbergen broke into V8s as a full-time driver with SBR in 2008 at the age of 18, and by 2010, worked his way to sixth in the final standings. He’d make his biggest mark in 2011, winning a pair of races on the way to third in the championship, and currently sits fifth in points – the first driver behind Triple 8 Engineering outfit and the resurgent Ford Performance Racing factory squad.
The talented Kiwi signed a three-year extension with SBR on May 18th this year, while on September 19th, SBR announced it had joined forces with Erebus Motorsports to build and campaign C-Class Mercs in place of the Fords it had mastered for more than a decade.
Despite SBR’s partnership with Erebus and its billionaire owner Betty Klimenko, and the financial resources that will be unleashed on the Mercedes V8 CotF platform, it’s likely van Gisbergen saw the long road ahead to bring the C-Class cars into a state of competitiveness and soured at the thought of losing his place in the top five.
That the SBR/Erebus/AMG Mercedes link-up came so close to the 2013 V8 season opener in February was also suggested as a point of concern. Building, homologating and testing the fleet of new cars in such a short timespan would be tough for even the biggest teams, yet with an infusion of cash from Erebus, it’s not impossible.
With “The Giz” hitting his stride as a professional, the thought of kissing the 2013 season and his career momentum goodbye as his team starts over appears to have been the catalyst in his request for a release from the team.
SBR ultimately granted his wish, but with a rumored one-year non-compete clause in place, it looks like van Gisbergen chose to sit out of next year’s championship – to hit the proverbial pause button – and wait to see what opportunities exist afterwards.
Content attributed to van Gisbergen within the SBR press release went to great lengths to deny the known reasons for the split.
“Contrary to media reports, I do not wish to race for another V8 Supercar team and my decision to leave the sport has in no way been caused by Ross and Jimmy’s decision to switch manufacturers in 2013 or the teams partnership with Erebus Motorsport,” it read.
The curious case of van Gisbergen’s pending V8 Supercars exit surely hasn’t been solved, but once the V8 championship concludes at Homebush on December 2nd, we might have some answers as to where he’ll resurface.
For now, we’re left with one of the more unique career developments to explore.
Taken out of the context of V8 Supercars, van Gisbergen’s move would be like young IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe looking to get out of his contract with Andretti Autosport if the team secured what he felt was an inferior engine supply – a Lotus, for example. In F1, it would be akin to Nico Rosberg willfully sitting out for a year due to Mercedes striking a chassis supply arrangement from a brand-new vendor.
Although he isn’t as well known on the international stage, the void left by a future champion like van Gisbergen in the V8 series is just as significant as a Hinchcliffe or Rosberg stepping out of the cockpit – even if it’s temporary.
No matter how it has been portrayed elsewhere, van Gisbergen isn’t retiring and has clearly put his personal beliefs and convictions ahead of a lucrative, multi-year contract to race with SBR through 2015.
Whether van Gisbergen’s made the right choice – at least in competitive terms – won’t be known until the SBR/Erebus Mercs show up at the Clipsal 500 at Adelaide in less than 100 days, but his courageous career move ranks as one of the boldest decisions by an up-and-coming driver in ages.
Via FoxSports Australia
