The saving grace in van Gisbergen test crash
#97 Camaro avoids major damage after 'perfectly square' impact
Van Gisbergen pitched into big crash after brake failure
Car was repaired for final hours of pre-enduro test
A “perfectly square” impact ensured Triple Eight Race Engineering could complete a trackside fix on Shane van Gisbergen’s car after his scary testing crash, ultimately handing more laps to Richie Stanaway.
Van Gisbergen crashed early in pre-enduro testing at Queensland Raceway on Tuesday after brake failure sent the #97 Red Bull Ampol Camaro into a spin.
The car spun around and hit the barriers head on, with van Gisbergen avoiding injury in the high-speed impact.
Triple Eight later stated the failure was caused by one the of the fittings being knocked on the calliper, which subsequently came loose.
Critically, the impact was square, with Triple Eight — after initially opting to send the car back to base for repairs — fixing the car trackside.
“As he entered Turn 6 and had a driver’s worst nightmare where the pedal goes to the floor, no front brakes, tries to slow down, goes off into the gravel, and then ends perfectly square,” Triple Eight Team Manager Mark Dutton said.
"Ending up square in the fence is important because it meant that the impact was distributed equally on the car, this is why we have been able to fix it and get it back out on track.
"We didn’t think we’d be able to get it back on track once we saw how deep it was buried in the tyres. The crew have worked incredibly hard to get it back on track."
Remarkably, the Chevrolet Supercar was repaired in approximately four hours, with co-driver Stanaway managing to turn in nearly two hours’ worth of laps.
It was crucial track time for the Kiwi, who will race with van Gisbergen at next weekend’s Penrite Oil Sandown 500 before the Repco Bathurst 1000 on October 5-8.
Triple Eight had three cars on track at Queensland Raceway, with Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup driving the #88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro, with the #888 Supercheap Auto Camaro wildcard driven by Craig Lowndes and Zane Goddard.
“Unfortunately, earlier in the day Shane did have a brake failure. The main thing is that he is okay because it was a pretty big impact,” Stanaway said.
"We had a lot on the program today, so not being able to get the full testing because of the incident, definitely wasn’t the best lead into Sandown.
"Luckily the team did manage to turn the car around to get some laps in this afternoon which was really productive, so a big kudos to them. The laps in the end were so valuable which made it worth while for everyone.
"It's been good to drive it again with proximity to the race, compared to the test days which were earlier in the year.”
