Shane van Gisbergen will be living his NASCAR dream with the Pitbull-owned team just days after launching the Supercars series and saying there’s no point in taking races overseas
- NASCAR driving fuels speculation he may quit Supercars
- The international singing star owns the car he will be driving in the United States
- Recently spoke out against the Supercars series
Defending Bathurst 1000 champion Shane van Gisbergen is set to test himself in NASCAR in the United States after the Kiwi recently unleashed a superb spray in the Supercars series.
The Triple Eight Race Engineering star has accepted an invitation to drive in Chicago at a July NASCAR meet at the wheel of Trackhouse Racing – the co-owned team of Grammy Award-winning rapper Armando Christian “Pitbull” Pérez.
The Chicago Street Race is the first of its kind for the NASCAR Cup Series and van Gisbergen will compete as a unique opportunity to test his skills at this level.
‘It is [NASCAR] one of the greatest motor racing series in the world,” said van Gisbergen.
“To have the opportunity to be a part of it and jump straight to the top level in America, it’s amazing.”
Shane van Gisbergen (pictured) is the best and best Supercars draw card we have. He will test his skills against those of the United States when he drives in Chicago at NASCAR in July
Global recording star, rapper Pitbull (pictured during the NASCAR Cup Series FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway) owns the car that van Gisbergen will drive in Chicago.
Kiwi-born Van Gisbergen, who drove the No. 97 Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering to win Bathurst last year, will race in the No. 91 Chevy for Trackhouse Racing.
The champion driver has revealed he will travel to the United States immediately after the Darwin race on June 18 before returning to resume the Supercar season at Townsville on July 7.
Trackhouse Racing is co-owned by Justin Marks and Pitbull. The team already has an impressive driver line-up consisting of Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez.
Van Gisbergen has admired the sport from afar for many years, so when Trackhouse came knocking he opened the door to the opportunity to fuel some doubters who believe he is preparing to quit Supercars.
Van Gisbergen recently fueled that fire after taking several jabs at Supercars during an interview after Bathurst, saying his one-year contract renewal had more to do with his love for the Triple Eight team than the series itself. even.
The Kiwi has indicated that he wants to pursue more rally and speedway racing, while considering a future in the United States.
“I have to be careful what I say because it’s sometimes taken out of context, but we’ve got new cars which are great so take the product overseas – what’s the point.” Let’s grow the sport here, go to Winton and get people to fall in love with the sport again,” he said Fox Sports.
“It’s weird because the show is worse than ever, all the background stuff, it’s really bad”
“My team is great. I loved the challenge this year with the car.
“But I’m here to race and you have to forget not to be selfish sometimes.”
Van Gisbergen will have the chance to drive a Chevrolet like the one pictured driven by Daniel Suarez
Marcos Ambrose (pictured) paved the way for drivers Down Under by successfully competing in NASCAR in the early 2000s
Van Gisbergen has always raised concerns about Gen3 cars when discussing his future, with Red Bull switching from racing Commodores to Chevrolet Camaros after Holden’s demise.
“It’s changed but in some ways it’s still the same and I love being part of this team, they’re a great group of people.” To say that I wish Supercars ran more.
Going to Chicago, while daunting, has been tempered a bit by Marcos Ambrose who has paved the way for Australian drivers in recent years.
“It looks like a completely different way and style of racing with the yellows, ladies green and white and the way they handle pit stops,” van Gisbergen said.
“It’s very different to anything I’ve done before, so I really have to study and make sure I’m sharp when the time comes.”
Ambrose, who was the Supercars champion in 2003 and 2004, competed in 227 NASCAR events over a seven-year period.
And Ambrose got a call from van Gisbergen asking him what to expect.
“Marcus was one of the first guys I asked for advice,” van Gisbergen said.
“He helped me a lot, he just gave me a lot of basic advice and how to approach the weekend.
