Kiwi V8 Supercar ace Shane van Gisbergen will be looking for something extra at the Coates Hire Ipswich 400 meeting in Queensland this weekend as he tries to hold on to his hard-won fifth place in the 2012 series points standings.
The young SP-Tools-backed, Stone Brothers Racing-run Kiwi – who finished a career best fourth in the 2011 series behind Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes and Mark Winterbottom – had an excellent start to the 2012 season, winning a race and finishing second overall at the non-championship round at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix meeting in March, then qualifying second quickest for the first race at Hamilton before claiming a second and a fourth at Phillip Island.
The pace up front has got even hotter at recent rounds, however,with defending series champion Jamie Whincup from Team Vodafone Holden, Ford Performance Racing pair Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison, and Whincup’s teammate Craig Lowndes edging ahead of the Kiwi on the track and in the overall series points standings.
Shane van Gisbergen – Car #9 SP Tools Racing:
“It’s hard work at the moment, alright. I think I’m still driving OK, it’s just that the other guys (Whincup, Winterbottom et al) have got a bit quicker.”
Much has been made of a recent resurfacing at the notoriously bumpy Queensland International Raceway track but van Gisbergen tested their with teammates Lee Holdsworth and Tim Slade last week and says that ultimately the upgrade has made little difference
Race regulations this season have also seen greater use of the category’s stickier tyre but van Gisbergen says that at the end of the day, qualifying well will again be the key to good, fast clean runs in the races (1 x 45-lap/140km on Saturday and 1 x 65km/200km on Sunday).
Heading into this weekend’s series round Jamie Whincup leads the series points standings on 1794 points with Mark Winterbottom second on 1694. Will Davidson is third with 1654, Craig Lowndes fourth on 1496 and van Gisbergen fifth with 1280 points.
There is one further sprint race meeting this month (at Winton in Victoria over the August 25-26 weekend) before the season’s endurance rounds at Sandown in Melbourne in September and at Bathurst in October.
