Reigning Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen should “just focus on his own racing” after opening up on his frustrations with the politics of the series, according to 2007 champion Garth Tander.
Tander also said Van Gisbergen was “the most distracted I’ve seen” after the star Kiwi accidentally revealed his latest contract extension lasts for only one season.
In an interview broadcast on Fox Sports during the Perth SuperSprint, Van Gisbergen said he was finding “background stuff” in the sport “worse than ever” and that he had struggled to strike a balance between standing up as a leader and focusing on his own performance.
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“That’s the thing I always battle with,” he said. “You obviously want to please everyone and make it better.
“I’ve been trying a lot off-track — setting up this drivers group, trying to make it better for everyone to drive — but you can lose focus easily.
“I want to help everyone and enjoy it, but sometimes you have to be selfish too. You’ve got to forget not to be selfish. You’re there for yourself too.”
Earlier this year Van Gisbergen formed a new drivers association alongside co-stars Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters and Will Davison to give more weight to the views of the drivers over the direction of the category.
But he found himself in hot water at the season-opening round when he spoke out about issues he had with the launch-spec Gen3 car, namely problems with cooling and tyre wear, for which he said he was reprimanded by “top brass”.
It led to an awkward press conference after winning the second race of the Newcastle 500 in which he refused to answer most questions.
Asked how difficult it had been to continue fulfilling his leadership role in the circumstances, Van Gisbergen said he’s resolved to focus on himself instead.
“It’s easy now,” he said. “I’m here to race. I do my own thing now.”
The wide-ranging interview was conducted shortly after Van Gisbergen signed what had been billed as a multiyear deal to remain in the Supercars, but it began with him seemingly accidentally revealing the contract runs only “at least one more year”, though he reportedly has options to extend for several more seasons.
Tander, who co-drove with Van Gisbergen to two Bathurst 1000 victories, said it was a sign that the reigning champ was distracted.
“He probably slipped up a little bit there,” he said on the Fox Sports broadcast. “To be honest, this is the most distracted I’ve seen Shane this year.
“Late last year going into this year’s championship there was a lot of talk around whether he was going to be enjoying the Gen3 product.
“He has got heavily involved in the background with the drivers advocate group. He’s one of the main players in that and working quite hard.
“He mentioned that he’s almost got to park that now and just focus on his own racing. ‘Really distracted’ is the term that comes to mind for me.
“I’ve watched that interview a couple times that now before we put it to air and, yeah, just sort of a bit all over the place.”
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‘STAY OUT OF THE POLITICS AND JUST BE A RACE CAR DRIVER’
Van Gisbergen also aired grievances about the absence of New Zealand on the calendar — though race organisers are settling on a new venue after Pukekohe closed its doors to motorsport last year — and questioned the wisdom of the sport’s stated intention to pursue overseas races on the Formula 1 undercard.
“I have to be careful what I say because it gets taken out of context sometimes,” he said. “It’s weird in the series, like all the stuff that goes on. Especially not going to New Zealand — which is, I guess, a personal gripe — but going overseas to Singapore and the Middle East. What’s the point?
“We have new cars which are awesome. We should be going to places like Winton, [Queensland Raceway]. Take it to the people and make them fall in love with the sport again.
“We’ve got this awesome new product, why are we going overseas with it? Our sport here is awesome, the events we do here and in New Zealand — I don’t understand why we go overseas.
“We’ve got these awesome new cars that we can make better; make them cool here.”
The series pursued a support billing at the Singapore Grand Prix before the pandemic, and CEO Shane Howard is on the record saying the sport “would like to be part of that event and they would like to have us there” as early as next season as well as at other grands prix in later years.
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Supercars chairman Barclay Nettlefold has also talked up the opportunity for the category to move into the space vacated by the defunct World Touring Car Championship with rounds in Asia, the Middle East and the United States.
Aside from regular visits to New Zealand, the Supercars series has previously held championship rounds overseas in China (2005), Bahrain (2006–08, 2010), the United Arab Emirates (2010–12) and the United States (2013).
But Tander said Van Gisbergen ought to stay away from off-track debates and focus on this driving.
“Shane’s obviously aware of stuff that might be happening in the background at a higher level, and that’s where the conflicts come from and the frustration and the distraction,” he said. “Just drive a race car fast. That’s what Shane’s great at.
“He’s probably lost his main focus, and Shane’s main focus has always been driving race cars fast — doesn’t matter if it’s a Supercar, doesn’t matter if it’s a rally car, doesn’t matter if it’s a sprint car.
“I think he’s a bit conflicted inside about whether he wants to be part of making the championship better or he just wants to focus on being a race car driver.
“For me, if I was advising Shane van Gisbergen right now, I’d be saying, ‘Just go back and drive race cars. Just go back and do that again. That’s what you’re good at. That’s what you’re best at. Stay out of the politics and just be a race car driver’.”
