Motorsport: Next stop... top place for Kiwi V8 Supercar drivers

Shane van Gisbergen says improvements to his car will boost its performance.

Kiwi being tipped to claim V8 crown

New Zealand drivers Fabian Coultard, Andre Heimgartner, Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen are taking on the Australian talent in the opening round of this year's V8 Supercars season, the Clipsal 500, in Adelaide this weekend.

Since the Australian Touring Car Championship morphed into the V8 Supercars championship in 1997, no Kiwi has reached the top of the series tree.

Two drivers have come second - Greg Murphy in 2002 and 2003, and van Gisbergen last year.

Coulthard looked like he was on for a challenge last year after a rocketship start to his season but he slipped to eighth by year's end.

McLaughlin made Volvo cool again and posted a few scintillating results, and despite a few hiccups along the way finished fifth.

This year, many of the pundits reckon van Gisbergen might topple six-time champion Jamie Whincup.

The 25-year-old has been racing tintops for seven years and has finished in the top six for the last five championships.

Now in his third season with the single-car Tekno Autosports outfit, van Gisbergen is ready for a serious challenge for Whincup's crown.

"I've done a few races already [including the Daytona 24 Hour] so I should be matchfit. We've really got to be strong this weekend to start the championship on the right foot.
"Clipsal's been pretty good for us and you just have to be consistent, stay out of trouble and play smart around there to get into the top 10 at least.

"You have to be careful, though. Everyone really pushes hard in the first few races so we have to play smart and keep the car straight and get three good results."

Most of the teams will be introducing new cars at some time during the season and Tekno will launch their new beast around the fourth round at Barbagello, Perth.

In the meantime, van Gisbergen's crew has been massaging last year's car in subtle ways to continue the progress it showed towards the end of last season. It's hard to believe how different the car was in the second half of the season compared to the early rounds.

"I think we slipped down to seventh at one point," van Gisbergen said. "We had a shocking mid-season and to turn it around like that was pretty impressive.

"We've done a few small things to the car for this year. Nothing major just refining what we've already got.

"We had a really good car to finish off the season last year and these small improvements will only make it better."

HRT driver James Courtney was the last driver to get one over Whincup, winning the championship in 2010.

He's said publicly that van Gisbergen has the goods to rattle the Red Bull Racing Australia driver, especially after he outplayed Whincup a few times towards the end of the season.
McLaughlin and Coulthard will also be up for the fight and as professional racecar drivers will think they have a good chance of a tilt at the title.

The fourth Kiwi in the field, development series graduate Heimgartner, sensibly wants to gain experience in the main game before considering any run at a championship.

There are two sprint-style races today followed by the top 10 shootout and the two-hour race tomorrow.

V8 Supercars 2015
Feb 26-March 1 - Clipsal 500, Adelaide
March 12-15 - Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne
March 27-29 - Symmons Plains, Launceston
April 17-19 - Barbagallo, Perth
May 15-17 - Winton Super Sprint, Benella
June 19-21 - Hidden Valley, Darwin
July 10-21 - Townsville 400
July 31-Aug 2 - Queensland Raceway, Ipswich
Aug 21-23 - Sydney Motorsport Park
Sep 11-13 - Sandown 500, Pirtek Enduro Cup
Oct 8-11 - Bathurst 1000, Pirtek Enduro Cup
Oct 23-25 - Gold Coast 600, Pirtek Enduro Cup
Nov 6-8 - ITM 500, Auckland
Nov 20-22 - Phillip Island
Dec 4-6 - Sydney 500