Van Gisbergen claims “my feet were on fire”

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: March 10, 2023

Shane van Gisbergen might have finished Friday practice at Newcastle second fastest, but he revealed some battles behind the wheel of his Gen3 Camaro.

The reigning two-time Supercars champion finished just 0.0557s away from pace-setter Brodie Kostecki in a fast finish to the opening day of Gen3 championship running.

Being the opening day of the inaugural Gen3 race weekend, the three practice sessions created invaluable time for the teams to understand how their new beasts handle the kerb and concrete filled 2.63km street circuit.

Van Gisbergen topped practice two and fell agonisingly short of going fastest overall after the evening’s qualifying simulations.

Despite the pace, the 75-time race winner revealed he experienced serious discomfort behind the wheel of his #97 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Van Gisbergen said his feet were “on fire” in the hot seat throughout the day.

“I was struggling in the car, it is the hottest car I have driven for a long time,” he said in the Friday press conference.

“If I wiggle my toes I am touching the firewall. My feet were on fire.

“Hopefully they let us do something to fix it.”

When asked about possible solutions van Gisbergen replied “I don’t know” and felt some things in the heavily controlled Gen3 cars may need more flexibility.

“I don’t know, Heat wrapping or shielding?

“I understand why some of the stuff is controlled, but some of it is a bit of overload.”

Van Gisbergen found an alley in Chaz Mostert, who believed in this situation safety should be paramount with temperatures forecast to reach 33 during the maiden race of the year.

“As the session went on it got hotter and hotter,” he said.

“There is no reason why we should not be able to use as much heat shielding as we can.

“At the end of the day it is a duty of care and the drivers should be protected as best they can.”

Van Gisbergen also revealed coming to grips with the new Gen3 Camaro on the gruelling street circuit was far from an easy task.

Drivers making good use of the Turn 2 run-off was a common sight throughout the day as drivers got acclimatised to their respective new set of wheels.

Van Gisbergen said the early runs were not easy, before he found his niche later in the day once getting a handle of the twisty street circuit.

“The track was quite difficult when we first got out there and I felt like a bit of a wobbler for the first few laps and having a few dramas which was really tough,” he said.

“Over the course of the day, I started to get a handle of everything.

“I had a longer run in the final practice session today and felt like we were getting better and better.

“I noticed that there were a few drivers struggling out there – there were some instances where drivers couldn’t see me and almost turned into me which was pretty difficult, but everyone has the same problems.”

Tomorrow’s Supercars action commences with qualifying at 11.15 AEDT before a shootout and the first 95-lap race of the season.

2023 Newcastle 500 schedule

Friday, March 10

Practice 1 – 1: A. Heimgartner 1:11.9958 2: W. Brown +0.1813 3: D. Reynolds +0.2021

Practice 2 – 1: S. van Gisbergen 1:11.7555 2: W. Davison +0.0374 3: B. Feeney +0.1167

Practice 3 – 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:11.4068; 2 Shane van Gisbergen +0.0557; 3 Chaz Mostert +0.0760

Saturday, March 11

Qualifying – 11.15-11.35

Top 10 Shootout – 12.35-13.00

Race 1 (95 laps) 15.20-17.20

Sunday, March 12

Qualifying – 11.15-11.35

Top 10 Shootout – 12.35-13.00

Race 2 (95 laps) 15.20-17.20

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.

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