SVG KEEN FOR ARC DEBUT
Current Supercars Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen is eager to make his debut on Australian gravel.
The Kiwi has previously rallied in his native country, but is keen to compete in a round of this year’s Australian Rally Championship after inspecting the Ford Fiesta R5 owned by Luke Anear before the upcoming round in Queensland on the weekend.
Van Gisbergen will be in attendance at the rally, based in Gympie where he hopes to learn as much as possible about the ARC ahead of a possible debut later this season.
Although he ended last year with victory in the Bathurst 1000 partnering Garth Tander, van Gisbergen returned to New Zealand during the off-season where he won the Battle of Jacks Ridge event and took his class in the City of Auckland Rally.
Van Gisbergen’s interest in the ARC was piqued by Triple Eight major shareholder Tony Quinn’s involvement.
“(The ARC) is something I’ve followed snippets of the last few years, and now Tony Quinn as well, our team owner, is racing in it so it’s cool to watch,” van Gisbergen said.
“Seeing (the ARC) grow and get bigger, and the drivers up the front when you watch the onboards and the stage times and see how quick those guys are and how hard they’re pushing. It’s pretty impressive that’s for sure.
“I’d love to have a go and have a play and maybe do something in the future. I would love to do something here and have some fun in a car.”
Motorsport Australia director of motorsport and commercial operations is excited by the potential of having van Gisbergen join the series in the future.
“To have a driver of Shane’s calibre trying to find an opportunity to compete in the RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship is certainly an exciting prospect for fans and competitors alike,” Smith said.
“We’re quite hopeful we’ll see Shane at an ARC event later this year and I’m sure he will have the rally bug after attending the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland in Gympie this weekend.”
Anear’s Fiesta is one of a handful of R5 specification models in the country and is the same used in the second-tier WRC2 support category of the World Rally Championship.
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