It’s been a busy week of preparation in the United States for Shane van Gisbergen as he prepares to make his NASCAR debut on the Chicago Street Course this weekend.
Van Gisbergen was present at the Nashville Superspeedway last weekend as his teammate for the upcoming event Ross Chastain took Trackhouse’s maiden win of the season.
Since then, the team has moved to Charlotte Motor Speedway, where the Kiwi got behind the wheel of the #91 Camaro for the first time on the circuit’s ‘royal’ layout for a limited practice run.
It’s the only seat time van Gisbergen will get before the Chicago event’s first practice session; however, he admits his only expectations are to do his best and to get the most out of the experience.
“We’ve got a bit of a short test,” said van Gisbergen, speaking at Nashville Speedway.
“That’s just to get a feel and make sure I’m comfortable in the car, and everything’s working, and then it’s all simulator stuff, really.
“I think I get two sessions in the simulator – just trying to learn and just get comfortable with the car.
“And then also the dynamic of the team with the engineers and crew chief and working out how that communication works.
“The strategy is quite different, so I have to do a lot of study on that. The pit’s closed when the yellow comes out, don’t have a pit speed speedometer and stuff like that, so just learning how to manage that side of the race. It’s quite different.
“Then obviously, we’re not racing for points, so we don’t have to focus on the stages and stuff like that.
“[We’re] going to come in and do our best, but also have to race with respect, as well. These guys are fighting for a championship every week. But yeah, got to come in and try to stay out of trouble, I guess, too.”
The test in Charlotte went without a hitch, giving the Kiwi an opportunity to learn the car before he heads to Chicago for the Grant Park 200 Chicago Street Race.
“We had a pretty cool first day at Charlotte Motor Speedway,” the two-time Bathurst 1000 winner was quoted in a release shared by Supercars.com. “First time here. First time driving the NASCAR, it was awesome.”
“The car, well, the team did a really awesome job getting me comfortable and up to speed. I got all the right feelings in the car, and yeah, it feels comfortable.
“Similar in some ways to what I’m used to, but in other ways completely different.”
Van Gisbergen also took to social media following the run, posting, “Today was awesome, first time driving the PROJECT 91 Car. Lots of laps, tried a few things to get a bit more comfortable and feeling more confident ahead of the weekend!”
Trackhouse Racing will now head to Chicago and hit the track for a 50-minute practice session at 5.30 am (NZ time) on Sunday morning. Qualifying immediately follows at 6.30 am, with the Grant Park 200 beginning at 9.30 am on Monday morning.
The Chicago Street Course is a new addition to the NASCAR calendar, a feature which could play into the hands of van Gisbergen, given his love of street tracks.
At current, there is still no live viewing platform available in New Zealand; however, CRC Motorsport on TV3 feature NASCAR highlights in their show every Sunday.
Header Image: Shane van Gisbergen (Facebook)
