Motorsport: Supercar ace branches out in Europe

Shane van Gisbergen, who joins Triple Eight Racing next year, says he'll always be thankful for being part of the Tekno Autosports team. Photo / Edge Photographics

Kiwi van Gisbergen to race McLaren 650S GT3 car in Blancpain endurance series

No doubt there are still a number of starry-eyed young drivers coming up through karting, and other junior formula, who have their eyes set on trying to make it into Formula One - and good on them. In recent years an increasing number of youngsters, and their backers, who make it into GP3 and even GP2, have realised the cost of making that last step, into F1, now costs the GDP of a small country.

Ten years ago it would have been difficult to find many drivers in endurance racing, sportscar racing or GT racing under the age of 35. Nowadays the roster of racers in their early 20s with factory gigs are growing exponentially as they realise being signed up to race by a manufacturer is a pretty damn good career choice.

New Zealand already has Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber, Richie Stanaway, and to a certain extent Hayden Paddon, locked and loaded as works drivers.

The most recent addition to this list is V8 Supercars pilot Shane van Gisbergen, who will be doing a limited European campaign with the McLaren GT-aligned team Von Ryan Racing in a McLaren 650S GT3 car.

"It's really awesome to get it across the line," said van Gisbergen. "I get to do four races so far this year with plans for more. Whatever I do will not conflict with any Supercar races.

"I'll be racing in the endurance part of the Blancpain series and will be on some cool tracks like Monza, Silverstone and the Nurburgring Grand Prix track and Spa [Francorchamps].

"I like driving the GT cars and the aero lets you get to another level. You can drive the car as hard as you like and it rewards you with more downforce. They've got so much more grip and then you've got all the electronics, which if you get into trouble can help sort you out.

"I don't know who I'll be driving with at Von Ryan Racing [team principal Dave Ryan is the former sporting director of the McLaren Formula One team] and looking at the pool of drivers they have it's a pretty good line-up.

"It's great as a Kiwi to be driving a McLaren. Bruce was from Remuera, which is not too far from where I'm from. It's a special thing for me to be able to race a McLaren and he [Ryan] always has a silver fern on his car as well."

Van Gisbergen has often stated he'd be happy to race anything every day of the week. And while he's chuffed about making a foray into sportscar racing in Europe, albeit on a limited programme, he's not losing any focus on the task at hand - winning a V8 Supercars championship.

It's been a busy old week for the 25-year-old with the GT racing announcement hot on the heels of the revelation he's moving to the Triple Eight Racing stable next year alongside Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.

The Kiwi has been with Tekno Autosports for three seasons now and has nothing but praise for the small but focused team who helped him to second place in the championship last year.

"I've always been grateful for the opportunity Tekno gave me and I wouldn't be where I am without them. They gave me the opportunity to get back racing in V8s and gave me a great car for three years.

"It's a bit sad to move on as it's [Tekno] a great little team. I'm sure whoever drives for them will be a lucky guy as the car is great and it's a great team to be part of," he said.

The V8 Supercars circus is in Melbourne this weekend as a support category for the opening round of the 2015 Formula One championship. There are no series points on offer over the three days of racing but rest assured there will be a few drivers trying to make a point.

The clever ones though, will realise there's a championship at stake and will want to leave Melbourne with a straight car, as the next round is only two weeks away in Tasmania, March 27-29.