Van Gisbergen extends contract with Red Bull Ampol Racing

After initially being non-committal on his future in Supercars, Shane van Gisbergen has announced his intention to remain in the category for the medium term, singing a multi-year contract extension with Red Bull Ampol Racing (Triple Eight Race Engineering) on 21 April.

“Extending with Red Bull Ampol Racing was a no-brainer for me. It’s certainly exciting to continue with the best team in pit lane and I’m stoked to be able to stay,” van Gisbergen said. “I’ve never been happier at this team.

“The coolest moment for me, and one that really solidified my decision, was the team repairing my car after I had that shunt at the Australian Grand Prix [Melbourne 400] – everyone stuck in to help each other to get #97 fixed. Even though we missed the next practice session, to come out and put the car on pole in qualifying was amazing. Seeing how much that meant to everyone was a special moment, and to then win that race was unreal. It’s such a fantastic team environment at the moment, and we have a great crew that I love working with.”

Although confident in his team, van Gisbergen had expressed some reservations about the Gen3 rules ahead of their introduction this year, with rumours he would move to NASCAR. But with the all-new Camaro ZL1 proving to be competitive (the Kiwi won two of this year’s opening six races), he’s decided to remain in Supercars.

“All these challenges we’ve had with the new cars will hopefully work themselves out as we keep updating over the next few events. There’s always something to learn and always things to keep getting better at. It’s those challenges that keep it fresh, and working with this team to understand those challenges and make the cars better is what I really enjoy.

“I want to thank the team, our partners and our fans for their support. Triple Eight is a cool place to be a part of and I’m looking forward to the future.”

Since joining Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016 (nine years after his Supercars debut), van Gisbergen has made 213 race starts with the team (prior to the Perth Supersprint) for 41 pole positions, 66 wins and 132 podiums.

Along with his trio of Supercars Drivers’ Championships in 2016, 2021 and 2022, van Gisbergen has also won the Bathurst 1000 twice (2021 and 2022) and played a major part in Triple Eight Race Engineering’s four Teams’ Championships in 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2022.