V8 star makes local stop

Shane van Gisbergen, V8 Supercar driver for Stone Bros at Gladstone Auto Cleaner Service yesterday.

SHANE van Gisbergen made a short stopover in Gladstone yesterday at Gladstone Air Cleaner Services, but there was no smoke to be seen coming from his Ford’s tyres due to the wet weather.

The up-and-coming Ford driver is touring around visiting SP Tools outlets, as the company is Stone Bros major sponsor for his car in the 2010 V8 Supercar series.

“It’s pretty cool visiting all the stores they supply to, and I’m pretty grateful for them helping me out,” van Gisbergen said.

Now in his third year driving touring cars, van Gisbergen has gained a wealth of knowledge in his time and is getting ever nearer to his first win.

“We started really strong (this season), getting a fourth and third, then dropped back a bit but we are starting to come back now,” he said.

In his last race, fought out on the Gold Coast, van Gisbergen had victory in sights before things went pear-shaped.

“We were fighting for the win but it didn’t quite come off,” he said.

Van Gisbergen rates the Gold Coast race right up there with another earlier this year.

“Abu Dhabi was the biggest one for me, our first podium (finish) and seeing how happy the boys were,” he said.

With Greg Murphy an idol, van Gisbergen, who hails from New Zealand, always had his heart set on racing a V8 supercar.

“It’s awesome. You’re racing against the best guys in Australasia,” he said.

“The fan interest and support is massive, I was a fan myself but didn’t realise it was so big.”

As for the remainder of the V8 Supercar season, as long as the wheels don’t fall off, van Gisbergen’s in with a show.

“Anything can happen.”