It’s only been eight days since Shane van Gisbergen’s North American campaign got underway, but the three-time Supercars champion is embracing the changes the highly competitive North American Stockcar scene presents.
The Kiwi’s first weekend of competition presented plenty of challenges across the ARCA Series and Xfinity Series season-openers, with several crashes putting him on the back foot in both races.
The unfamiliar technique of pack racing was also a new concept for the Trackhouse-signed driver, and he admits the learning curve has been steep, but he has gained valuable experience that will help him going forward.
“Just know how to place the car to get on it, changing the balance and grip and how to stay in line and then learning the proximity of the car to the wall on the right side,” he said when asked what he had taken away from the Daytona round at a press conference ahead of the weekend’s round at Atlanta.
“It took me a while to know where the right side of the car was.
“I hadn’t driven around people. We did some single-file stuff in practice but no double-file. I kept pulling out of line, which sent us backwards. So, I’ve got to get better at that.
“I try never to have any expectations,” he later added. “I did as much study as I could and got a lot of advice from good people, but until you feel when you’re out there, and you’re going like three seconds a lap faster when you’re in the pack and when you’re the fourth or fifth car there’s no air, so you’re sliding around like crazy.
“It’s like drifting into a corner at 300- or 180 or whatever it is in your language- it’s a crazy feeling, and until you feel it, you don’t really know.
He says he also reviewed footage of both events to see what he could have done to avoid them.
“I tried to like to analyse every wreck, you know, all six that I got involved in. I couldn’t figure out how I could have done things differently,” he added.
“You know, it’s just this style with that racing and something I have to accept. You’ve got to run the risk of getting that good result. But you’re probably going to get into a crash, and it’s an amazing mindset to go racing.
“I’ve never had to do that before going to race, thinking, you know, it’s 50-50 whether you’ll crash. So, it’s pretty different.”
While Kiwis have become accustomed to seeing van Gisbergen at or near the top of the leaderboard each weekend, the Kaulig Racing #97 realises the year will bring mixed results.
“I read a stat somewhere where there are only five guys with a top ten finishing rate of 50 per cent or better. I used to go to a track, and if you weren’t in the top three for a weekend, it was a disaster, so having that results mindset has been a huge switch.
“Being a rookie makes accepting that easier, and I’ve got to settle in and shoot for top 15s and top 10s and try to get some consistency.
“Even when you look at the top guys’ results from last year, they’re all over the place week to week. It’s a very different way to approach racing.”
Van Gisbergen returns to the track at 11.00 am on Sunday (NZ time) for the Raptor King of the Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, having qualified 13th on Saturday morning.
Excellent report accuracy dominance thanks mate