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Whincup talks van Gisbergen's future

14 Dec 2022
Champion looking to Gen3 to decide future
2 mins by James Pavey
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Jamie Whincup isn’t concerned over Shane van Gisbergen’s future with Triple Eight ahead of the first season of Gen3.

Van Gisbergen will defend his title in 2023, which will be the first year of the new Gen3 ruleset.

The Kiwi revealed talks of a new deal after clinching the 2022 championship on the Gold Coast.

  • Champion-elect van Gisbergen sheds light on future

He cited Gen3 as key to his future, a point he reiterated in Adelaide.

“We’ve had pretty good chats about extending,” van Gisbergen said.

“I wanna wait and race the car. There’s so much talk about what’s going to happen and how it’s going to be.

“I want it to be awesome, I want the racing to be great… I’ll just be patient with it."

Whincup, who took the reins of Triple Eight this year, said he will wait for van Gisbergen to make his own decision.

The retired Supercars Hall of Famer is both van Gisbergen’s boss and a key figure in Gen3.

Triple Eight is General Motors' homologation team, and has developed the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro.

“Shane’s got a gig at Triple Eight for as long as he needs or wants to,” Whincup said.

“We don’t employ or contract anyone who doesn’t want to be here.

“We’re giving him the opportunity to experience Gen3 to decide which way we’re gonna go.

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“Triple Eight has designed the car from the ground up — we’re confident it’s gonna be a good thing.

"To take three-quarters of the aerodynamics off, to make the thing light, fast, noisy, the cars look great.

“I’m not too concerned at this stage.”

Van Gisbergen crushed the field in 2022, winning 21 of the 34 races — a new Supercars record.

Triple Eight scooped the pool winning the Supercars drivers’ and teams’ titles, the Super2 title and the Bathurst 1000.

Triple Eight has developed the Gen3 Camaro

Whincup knows 2023 will offer another big challenge for Triple Eight, which he expects to ‘burn the midnight oil’ preparing for the new year.

On 2023 being a bigger challenge, Whincup said: “For sure.

"We’ve experienced plenty of challenges over the last 15 years.

“It keeps the engineering group alive, gives us all a big carrot in front of us.

"We’re going to be burning the midnight oil at the start of next year, making our cars more competitive than everybody else.

“That’s what means everything… it’s those times when you grind it out to be better than the next guy or girl in pit lane."

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Newcastle next March.

Tickets are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.

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