An ‘angry’ Shane van Gisbergen has drawn the ire of five-time Supercars champion Mark Skaife for how he acted after his controversial race two win on the streets of Newcastle.
But as the frustrated New Zealander explained, there was good reason for going to ground.
Following the Newcastle 500 closer, the three-time Supercars winner gave a frosty reception when asked about an incident with Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Chaz Mostertwho had been leading at the time of the clash.
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The pair made nose-to-tail contact, which opened the door for the trailing van Gisbergen to go through and take the lead – a move later labelled “cheeky” by Mostert.
Although not investigated or penalised, van Gisbergen offered little in the way of comment when asked about the heart-in-mouth moment following his victory.
“All I have to say is thank you to Red Bull Ampol Racing, yesterday was tough and obviously we’ll fight it,” said van Gisbergen, who bounced back after being disqualified from race one for a technical infringement – a decision that is set to be appealed.
“The team knuckled down and did a good job. Thanks to everyone for coming out again. Newcastle, it’s great to be here again. The rest of it, I did all my talking on track. Thank you.”
In the post-race press conference, van Gisbergen repeated his earlier statement and appeared to gesture that he was done answering questions.
It was at that point he was challenged by host Chad Neylon to answer further questions.
“No mate, it’s a press conference. We’ve got to ask you questions,” said Neylon, before van Gisbergen repeated himself.
“Mate, come on. Are you serious? It’s a press conference, there’s a room full of journalists. We don’t get you at any other point of the weekend,” Neylon responded.
“You’ve come up here to answer questions. It’s not even a hard question, it’s a fair question. Can you talk us through the move at turn nine?”
Van Gisbergen replied, “Yeah, it happened. Our talking was done on the track today. Thank you.”
For the remark, van Gisbergen was lashed by Skaife.
The six-time Bathurst 1000 winner suggested there was an onus on van Gisbergen to be an ambassador of the sport.
“Although you might not want to make any more comment, you actually have a duty as a custodian of the sport to say what you need to say about the results and what’s gone on today,” Skaife said on Fox Sports’ coverage.
“Obviously, he won’t be liking disqualification from yesterday. He’s come in today angry about how it is, but there is a duty of care. There is something about being the champion driver, and the ambassador for the sport.
“If you’re a media person from anywhere in this country, and you want a comment about Supercar racing, the first person you ask is Shane van Gisbergen.
“There’s no one in this industry that in any way, shape or form would ever contend on his driving talent and his and his ability is extraordinary. Maybe one of the best drivers ever.
“He’s unbelievable, but you do – off the track – have a duty, and that (behaviour) is not right.”
Garth Tander, who won two Bathurst 1000 titles with van Gisbergen, said there was a lack of respect shown.
“He is better than that, and he doesn’t need to do that sort of stuff,” said Tander.
“He’s very articulate when he wants to be. He can get his point across when he needs to be.
“You don’t need to play those games.”
Although van Gisbergen’s reaction might have been a hangover in part from the disqualification – suggesting he was driving “angry” as a result – his hesitancy to discuss the incident with Mostert seemed to stem less from the clash itself but from being “bitten in the arse” for comments he made about the new Gen3 cars.
Last year’s champion has been reserved in his stance towards the new-for-2023 touring cars, offering little in the way of comment to date for fear of backlash from Supercars.
On Saturday, van Gisbergen spoke of the car’s weaknesses and inability to follow closely due to overheating tyres – a problem the preceding Gen2 cars also suffered.
He was asked whether his stubbornness with media did he or Supercars any favours.
“I tried to just knuckle down and focus and then I said a lot of stuff yesterday, tried to open up a bit more, and maybe it’s bit me in the arse, so I just focus on driving,” he said.
“I said the truth about the cars I guess and tried to be honest and it goes down the wrong way.”
Van Gisbergen’s comments reportedly did not go down well with Supercars executives.
David Reynolds, who also featured in the press conference after finishing third, suggested as much.
“They don’t want us to say anything negative,” he said.
“It’s a completely different change for the sport. We drove the same cars for 10 years and we loved those cars and for us this is just different.
“The reaction might not be the best reaction, but over time it might get better. We might get better at driving these cars and setting them up. It’s a long road.”
The disqualification of van Gisbergen and his teammate Broc Feeney, who finished second in race one, meant Cameron Waters took the first win of the Gen3 era.
Mostert was second with Cameron Waters third for Tickford Racing.
It’s expected Triple Eight Race Engineering will appeal the disqualification.
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