Former SBR Australian V8 Supercar driver Shane van Gisbergen has confirmed he will run the full 2013 BNT V8 SuperTourer season in Corkery Motorsport’s Ford Falcon V8ST.

Van Gisbergen, who raced in V8 Supercars last season before quitting the series to return home to New Zealand, will run his traditional race number – 97 – and will take on New Zealand’s top V8 drivers including Greg Murphy, John McIntyre, Craig Baird and Andy Booth, as well as the inaugural V8 SuperTourer champion Scott McLaughlin.

“I have kept an eye on the series in its first year and came along to a couple of the races last year, as well as testing the car a couple of times, and it’s a series which really excites me,” he said. “There’s a close field of competitive drivers in evenly matched cars and I’m looking forward to getting into the mix and hopefully getting some good results.”

Van Gisbergen spent many of his early racing years competing against current BNT V8 SuperTourer drivers such as Andrew Waite and Simon Evans in go-karts, and he is looking forward to getting out on the track against some of his old mates. “I’ll be taking no prisoners on the track though,” he added.

Mark Petch, Managing Director of V8 SuperTourers, said: “It’s fantastic to have yet another champion join the BNT V8 SuperTourer Series, as we move forward to official recognition as the country’s Premier Touring Car Championship. Shane is really going to put the cat among the pigeons, that’s for sure. The Corkery car is undergoing a full rebuild in preparation for Shane’s assault on the championship.”

The 2013 BNT V8 SuperTourer series blasts off at Hampton Downs over the weekend of February 16 and 17 with full coverage on TV3 and same day coverage in Australia. All information on the series is available at www.v8st.co.nz

From Big Pond Sports

LONG-TIME V8 Supercar team Stone Brothers Racing will merge with Erebus Motorsport to run three AMG E Class V8 Supercars in the V8 Supercars Championship from 2013.

The agreement, which has been almost a year in the making since its initial concept in early 2011, is a reality with the newly formed team operating under a Customer Sports Program of AMG.

The announcement was made in Melbourne today by Stone Brothers Racing owner Ross Stone (pictured), Erebus Motorsport owner Betty Klimenko, Erebus Motorsport CEO Ryan Maddison and V8 Supercar Chairman Tony Cochrane.

Erebus Motorsport has been dominant in the Australian GT category with Mercedes-AMG’s SLS AMG GT3 racecar.

Stone Brothers Racing this morning announced it will be ending its partnership with Ford after a relationship that began when the team was first formed in 1998 and won three V8 Supercar Championships with Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall.

The amicable split paved the way for the Erebus merger.

“Since SBR’s inception in 1998 Ford has backed the team and together we have enjoyed many successes including three Championship wins – two with Marcos Ambrose in 2003 and 2004, and again with Russell Ingall in 2005. We also won Bathurst with Jason Bright and Steven Richards in 1998,” said Ross Stone.

“Leaving Ford was not an easy thing to do, but as car markets change here in Australia I felt the time was right for a new challenge and with Ford’s mutual agreement we have decided to part ways.

“We will be racing a Ford Falcon for the last time at Olympic Park in December and will see out our contract which ends this year.

“I’d like to thank Ford and all our supporters for their backing and we now look forward to entering a new era of racing with Erebus Motorsport.”

Erebus Motorsport is fronted by Maddison, who has a long association with the AMG brand and V8 Supercars. Maddison and Klimenko see great opportunities with the marque in the sport.

“There has been much speculation over what Erebus Motorsport, AMG and Mercedes-Benz were doing in relation to the Car of the Future – and we haven’t been in a position to say anything about this until right now,” said Erebus Motorsport CEO, Ryan Maddison.

“Our entry into V8 Supercars is an entirely Erebus Motorsport-funded initiative as a private race team that is accessing the Customer Sports program of AMG.

“There is a lot of work required between now and the first event next year; by no means will it be an easy road with V8 Supercars being such a highly competitive environment.

“We do not underestimate the task ahead as a new team in V8 Supercars, but we have the expertise and experience of SBR which is considered to be one of the best teams in V8 Supercars. They are a professional outfit and know how to win races and championships; we see a perfect fit for Erebus Motorsport.

“We have been assessing our options for access over an extended period, as the category is so competitive it has been a move with very specific requirements on our behalf. SBR have for a long time been a strong and consistent performing team with their engineering also being a benchmark in the categories evolution and parity based success.

“I have absolutely no doubt that the hard work that everyone here, in Germany and at SBR have put into this so far will be rewarding. The entire Erebus Motorsport team is proud that today we can make this announcement.”

The Erebus Motorsport-SBR alliance was made possible under the Car of the Future program. The three entries will run five-litre engines with the AMG bodywork over the COTF chassis that is almost complete at SBR headquarters and due to be tested as a Ford in the coming weeks.

SBR will continue its testing program with Ford until the completion of their contract at the end of the year.

There has already been significant work on engine development and a team of engineers has been tasked with the project of developing a V8 Supercar specification five-litre engine and the bodywork of the 2013 cars.

The very first engine was unveiled at today’s announcement.

With most V8 Supercar teams either already on track or about to be on track with the 2013 Car of the Future models, V8 Supercars Chairman Tony Cochrane said the sport was never in better shape to maintain its high growth curves domestically and internationally.

The Car of the Future program aims to cut running costs and encourage other marques to compete, in turn broadening fan and sponsor appeal. The sport intends to grow to 18 events worldwide across 40 weeks in the coming years.

“Having Erebus Motorsport combined with SBR on the grid says much for the evolution of V8 Supercars to an internationally recognised brand,” Cochrane said.

“With the customer sports support of AMG, the marque joins another worldwide giant in Nissan in our championship under the Erebus Motorsport and SBR partnership, further demonstrating that our sport is truly on the international stage.

“We are an extremely popular sport worldwide and arguably one of the most respected motorsport categories internationally. This is largely due to our professionalism, safety first approach, fantastic events, technological prowess, spectacular racing and our hugely respected teams and drivers.”

The three-year Car of the Future project, led by Mark Skaife and a key team of engineers, designers, car builders, V8 Supercar team personnel and drivers, was completed at the end of last year with 2013-spec Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon fully tested and on the showroom floor.

The cars, developed with the sponsorship support of Dunlop, represents the next generation V8 Supercars, paving the way for new marques.

David McCarthy, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Mercedes-Benz Australia Pacific, said of today’s announcement: “Our position on entering V8 Supercars has not changed, we have jointly with AMG approved to offer Erebus Motorsport the opportunity to purchase the requested technology and support via the Customer Sports program.

“Erebus is a highly valued customer and they have an existing relationship with AMG via the Customer Sports program. The Erebus Motorsport-SBR entry into V8 Supercars is an extension of that relationship.

“We are not directly involved and we have no plans to undertake any sales or marketing activities in conjunction with this effort. There is no Mercedes-Benz or AMG money inherent in this new entry, the entire project is funded by Erebus Motorsport.”

Most of us were stuck to the sofa all day Sunday taking in all the sights and sounds of the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 for another year. But sadly, there were some within our ranks who had other duties to perform on Sunday, for them – here’s the low down.

This year’s 49th annual Bathurst 1000km race was won by Garth Tander and Nick Percat. The HRT pair were followed by Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife, pole-sitters Greg Murphy and Alan Simonsen, FPR’s Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards, Team BOC’s Jason Bright and Andrew Jones and van Gisbergen and McIntyre.

The all-kiwi crew of Shane van Gisbergen and John McIntyre finished up a hard-fought sixth overall.

After starting the race from the third row of the grid ‘the Giz’ was looking comfortable running in the top-five during the early stages of the race. As was McIntyre once he took over the #9 SP Tools Falcon – until he was turned around by Marcus Marshall and at The Elbow and lost 15 places getting going again. (more…)

Following the birth of his second child last month, Scott Dixon has decided to pull out of the upcoming V8 Supercars Gold Coast 600 race. This left great kiwi hope Shane van Gisbergen without a co-driver for the glamour event but veteran Italian sportscar racer Emanuele Pirro will take Dixon’s place.

Now 49-years-of-age Pirro started his racing career in karts at the age of 11 and quickly progressed through the ranks to Formula One – where he raced in 40 grands prix, first for Benetton and later for Scuderia Italia.

After leaving Formula One, the Italian switched to touring cars, winning the Macau Guia race twice in 1991 and 1992 at the wheel of a BMW M3 Evolution, and the Italian Touring car championship in 1994 and 1995 driving for Audi.

New Zealand fans may remember Pirro as a four-time winner of the Nissan-Mobil Wellington waterfront race.

Further success followed in sports car racing, with three wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in three consecutive years (2000 to 2002) partnered with Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen for Audi Sport Team Joest. (more…)

Hard-charging V8 driver Shane van Gisbergen will team up fellow countryman and IndyCar star Scott Dixon for this year’s Armor All Gold Coast 600 in October.

Dixon, the two-time IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner drove last year for Jack Daniel’s Racing on the Gold Coast, however has elected to jump camps for the 2011 event.

“Surfers Paradise has always been a special place for me and anyone else that has raced there,” said Dixon. “It is almost like a home race for me having been born in Brisbane and raised in New Zealand. It is going to be like the Kiwi Super team with me driving with Shane in a car prepared by the Stone Brothers. Ross and Jimmy are obviously racing heroes in NZ and it is going to be pretty cool to drive for them. I enjoyed my first outing in a V8 Supercar with the Kelly boys last year and being part of an all-Kiwi assault will add even a bit more spice. (more…)

A spirited fightback drive saw Stone Brothers Racing kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen cross the line fifth in the second race at the Sucrogen 400 V8 Supercar series meeting in Townsville last Sunday.

The result came following an 11th place finish in Saturday’s race and meant the 22-year-old driver has enough points to retain third place in the series points standings at the half-way point of this year’s competition.

After claiming his second series win of the season in Darwin last month, van Gisbergen headed back to Northern Australia with high hopes but struggled to find a qualifying set-up that worked and had to settle for 22nd on the grid for the first (72-lap) race of the weekend on Saturday.

Sunday’s second weekend qualifying session saw a major improvement – to 11th – but valuable time, not to mention track position, was lost during a Safety Car pit stop when van Gisbergen had to queue up behind teammate Alex Davison. (more…)

The great kiwi hope of the V8 Supercars, Shane van Gisbergen will be targeting his third win of the season in balmy northern Queensland this weekend. The Sucrogen 400 street race meeting in Townsville will see ‘the Giz’ attempt to improve on his third place standing in the series.

It’s already been quite a year for the hard-driving 22-year-old from Auckland, his first V8 Supercar series win coming at his home round in Hamilton in April, his second in Darwin last month. The young Kiwi has shown plenty of form in his SP Tools Falcon round the 2.86km Townsville street circuit too, qualifying fifth quickest at the first Sucrogen event two years ago, and sixth last year. But getting the results has proved tricky to come by with Van Gisbergen’s efforts yielding a 12th in the first race and dnf in the second on his first attempt in 2009. Last year there was improvement with the familiar blue SP Tools Falcon crossing the line eighth in the first race and seventh in the second, the latter after a hard-won drive from P17 on the grid. (more…)

The worlds of V8 Supercar racing and drifting are usually kept quite far apart but last weekend Kiwi race driver Shane van Gisbergen brought them together. After achieving his second V8 Supercars win and first on Aussie soil (read news) ‘the Giz’ decided to celebrate with a victory lap – going sideways.

The commentators mistakenly thought van Gisbergen’s smokey slides were accidental, stemming from excessive tyre wear but quickly worked out he was hamming it up for the Darwin fans. The Giz went on to fill Hidden Valley Raceway with the smell of tyre smoke and considering the steering ratios of a V8 Supercar,  did well to get as sideways as he could.

At 22 years old Van Gisbergen is the youngest driver in the top-tier series and has almost a professional obligation to pull some reckless moves on occasion and the crowd loved him for it. (more…)