By Thomas Miles
Date posted: August 20, 2023
Triple Eight Race Engineering has received a fine and points penalty for the pit lane problem encountered by Shane van Gisbergen, whose steering issues did not disappear at The Bend.
After car #97 was dropped and released from the pits with wheel gun still attached the right rear tyre on lap 10, Triple Eight has been fined $1,500 and docked 30 team points for breaking Rule D11.7.3.
With the team only being penalised, van Gisbergen’s fifth place finish still stands, which gives him something to salvage from a tough weekend.
Despite using the same chassis as Sydney where car #97 was the class of the field, the Kiwi’s battles behind the wheel returned.
They started as early as practice where van Gisbergen recorded just 13 laps across two sessions where he finished 25th and 24th.
But fortunately the speed returned in the races when he scored a trio of P5s.
“You have got to thank the team. We have done five steering racks this weekend and ran out so we had to get one off PremiAir for that last race,” he said on Fox Sports.
“They all just feel so different and it is a real shame and worry for Sandown.
“Andrew and my team have done a great job trying to make the car as good as possible.
“I am not the only one having these problems. It was still fun, but a battle and I struggled to drive it.”
Van Gisbergen is well aware of Erebus’ pace advantage at The Bend and knows it is paramount to be back at his best with the enduros on the horizon.
“We still got points but Brodie is super fast and those guys are nailing it right now,” he said.
The Sandown 500 awaits on September 15-17.
Image by Mark Horsburgh
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