DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.: Shane van Gisbergen has made it to America.
V8 Supercar standout van Gisbergen has moved to the United States and kicked off a hectic 2024 season this weekend at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway during preseason ARCA Menards Series testing in preparation for the series’ season-opening Daytona ARCA 200 on Saturday, February 17, 2024.
van Gisbergen, the 2023 inaugural NASCAR Cup Series Chicago Street Course winner, tackled the 2.5-mile superspeedway over the weekend in Pinnacle Racing Group’s No. 28 Chevrolet SS in preparation for his superspeedway debut in the 80-lap race that serves as a preamble for the Xfinity Series season opener later that day.
Mother Nature drenched the Daytona Beach, Fla. track on Friday. Still, track officials and ARCA officials extended the day’s activities until 9:00 p.m., allowing the more than 40 cars and 70 drivers, including van Gisbergen, the opportunity to turn laps.
van Gisbergen spent time both in solo runs and tucked at the end of a small draft – giving the New Zealand native a taste of what he’ll experience in five weeks.
I still don’t have a good answer. I hope I’ll know more in a few weeks,” van Gisbergen said Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway. “I’ve really done some single-file stuff (in the test), but not two or three-wide. I’ve just been at the back of the train.
“So, I haven’t really had too much of a feel, but it was still cool to get out there and feel what the car is like and how it moves around and how they are so sensitive to small changes. It’s pretty interesting, like when they are tuning a roof flap, or the fenders, and it picks up a tenth (of a second), or something like that.
“The driver doesn’t have a lot of input, but you can still feel the changes.”
van Gisbergen classified himself as a full rookie on Saturday nothing that he has never participated in anything remotely close to Daytona International Speedway. Despite his array of vast knowledge for road courses and street circuits, van Gisbergen has had little time to negotiate ovals with just one circle track start to his credit at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, where he qualified for the race on speed and saw the checkered flag.
Daytona, though, has proven to be a whole new beast for the popular driver.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” he said. “I did the IRP (Truck) race last year, but otherwise, I’ve done nothing like this. I’m a full rookie.”
The Daytona ARCA test brought plenty of new experiences to van Gisbergen, and not all of them happened on the race track.
“I just made sure I was comfortable in the car, switched up from a HANS device from Simpson, which is what I had been running,” he explained. “Just little things to get comfortable to know what I’m in for. Like using a headrest – that’s not something we normally do.
“Just lots of little things that I’ve never really thought about. Just being safe, being belted in fully. There’s not much movement in the car, but also being relaxed while you’re in the corner. That’s one thing that took me by surprise and what you don’t feel in the sim, is when you’re in the corner, the Gs pushing you into the track. It’s a cool feeling.
“Obviously, a sim can’t prepare you for that. You’re still steering the thing around here but it’s comfortably flat, but you’re still driving it and those sensations you feel for the first laps, is something new.”
van Gisbergen praised his Mark Webb-owned Pinnacle Racing Group for making his first laps at Daytona very easy and enjoyable.
“It’s been awesome,” he said of PRG. “Shane Huffman’s really good. He’s been through what I’m going through. Then his son was out there today, and it was cool to be a part of that. He was nervous. I’m almost 20 years older than him, but we’re still in the same position, being our first time here. It was some cool moments. The guys are enthused. It’s a brand-new car. They’ve put so much time and effort into it. To see how much we picked up today, they were all enjoying it.”
Having experience in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, van Gisbergen has dabbled with portions of the oval surface of Daytona but is now experiencing the full speeds and sensation.
“I’ve done the Rolex (24 Hours) five times I think but I’ve never entered the oval at speed – normally we’re accelerating into it,” he explained. “Once you’re into the corner, it’s pretty similar but coming into the corner, the first couple times I felt like I had no idea what’s going to happen. It’s kind of a cool feeling, but once you’re in the banking, it’s pretty solid. Then when you’re behind cars and going 15 to 20 mph, it’s cool too.”
Returning to kickoff the 2024 season with a double header of 200 laps of racing between the ARCA Menards Series and the Xfinity Series race, van Gisbergen isn’t worried. Throughout his career, he has been inundated with racing multiple times a day.
While he knows Daytona will be a different story when it comes to the type of racing and mental games that await him for nearly five hours of racing, he is ready to dive in.
“It’s kind of normal for me,” explained van Gisbergen. “We race two, sometimes three times a day where I come from. It just adds to the experience. I just need to do as many laps as possible, stay out of trouble, but still mix it up. Try to complete all the laps, build on the experience and be in the mix.”
The 200-mile ARCA race waves the green flag on a packed 2024 schedule for the 34-year-old driver. In addition to ARCA, he will also compete full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Kaulig Racing, while also competing in select NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races, as well as six NASCAR Cup Series races for Trackhouse Racing – which includes defending his race title on the streets of Chicago, plus two superspeedway starts later in the year at Talladega Superspeedway.
Despite all that awaits him in 2024, van Gisbergen does not set expectations.
“I never race with expectation – just prepare well, get better every week, and keep learning,” he said. “It’s all in the preparation and being ready for the races, and the results will come.
“There will be sure be growing pains and accidents, but as long as I learn and keep getting better, then naturally, I’ll progress. As far as where I’ll be in the rankings, I have no idea. We’ll find that out as we go.
I think the road courses I’ll be fine and more comfortable. There’s obviously some really good drivers in Xfinity. But it’s the oval stuff where I just have no idea where I’ll be.
“I just have an open mind. I’m doing as much as I can on the simulator and watching video. But you just don’t know until you get out on the track and feel it. I’ll take it as it comes and hopefully get better every week.”
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