Latest news with #VanGisbergen
West Australian
4 days ago
- Automotive
- West Australian
Blow for SVG as brakes put on Chicago Street Race
The Chicago Street Race will not be on the NASCAR calendar in 2026, in a major blow for three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen. NASCAR and city officials are working towards a return to the Windy City in 2027. Van Gisbergen, a three-time winner of the Bathurst 1000, has dominated the Chicago streets. The New Zealander won the Cup Series races in 2023 and 2025 and the Xfinity races in 2024 and 2025. "Following the success of the first three years, the Chicago Street Race will hit pause in 2026 to afford us the time necessary to work collaboratively with the City of Chicago to explore a new potential date and to develop a plan that further optimises operational efficiencies, with a goal to return to the streets of Chicago in 2027," the event's social media account posted on X. "Together, we have built and grown an expanded community of fans that consists of longtime NASCAR enthusiasts and first-time racegoers from around the globe, and for that, we are immensely grateful." From 2023-25, drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series raced along a 12-turn, 2.2 mile course from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Perth Now
Blow for SVG as brakes put on Chicago Street Race
The Chicago Street Race will not be on the NASCAR calendar in 2026, in a major blow for three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen. NASCAR and city officials are working towards a return to the Windy City in 2027. Van Gisbergen, a three-time winner of the Bathurst 1000, has dominated the Chicago streets. The New Zealander won the Cup Series races in 2023 and 2025 and the Xfinity races in 2024 and 2025. "Following the success of the first three years, the Chicago Street Race will hit pause in 2026 to afford us the time necessary to work collaboratively with the City of Chicago to explore a new potential date and to develop a plan that further optimises operational efficiencies, with a goal to return to the streets of Chicago in 2027," the event's social media account posted on X. "Together, we have built and grown an expanded community of fans that consists of longtime NASCAR enthusiasts and first-time racegoers from around the globe, and for that, we are immensely grateful." From 2023-25, drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series raced along a 12-turn, 2.2 mile course from Columbus Drive to DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue.
NZ Herald
4 days ago
- Automotive
- NZ Herald
Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen returns to oval racing at Dover after road wins
'He's way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff and he's got his own technique, you can call it. Not his own because the rest of the world does it, right-foot braking, clutching and all that stuff. 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Like, there's zero chance I can learn how to do that. And even if I did, like there's zero chance that I can have it be better than what I'm probably doing left-foot braking. 'So yeah, he's just so good. And he's still new to the oval stuff, so he's going to continue to get better at that. And, yeah, I mean, if he could figure out the ovals, he's going to be dominant.' Van Gisbergen may only sit 26th in the Nascar Cup point's standing on 367 points, a fair way off leaders William Byron (668), Chaser Elliot (634) and Larson (624). However, with his three wins so far in 2025, van Gisbergen lies third in the playoff standings on 17 points behind Denny Hamlin (19) and Larson (23). The Kiwi should get through the round of 16 despite it being entirely on ovals. The round of 12 will be a challenge, but Hamlin is confident van Gisbergen could actually make it through to the round of eight. Shane van Gisbergen gets ready for a practice session at Daytona International Speedway. Photo / Photosport High praise indeed from 57-race winner Hamlin but van Gisbergen is under no illusions just how hard it will be. After Sonoma he admitted he was apprehensive heading into the round of 16. 'It's a crazy first round for me. We go to Darlington, which is my favourite oval. Then I think it's Gateway, which I've never been to. Then Bristol, I might as well be going the other way. 'Hopefully we get better at tracks like that. We'll see how Gateway is,' he said. Van Gisbergen will make his first Nascar Cup Series start at Dover Motor Speedway this weekend. Last year racing in the Xfinity Series he started 31st and crossed the line in 18th. 'I'm looking forward to getting back into some oval racing. It's been a nice break doing all these road courses, but Dover should be good. 'I struggled a bit there last year, but I still had fun. It's an epic track. Just how fast you can go into that corner, it feels like you are dropping and then all of a sudden you are loading up into the banking, just how much grip the track has is mind blowing. 'My team has a bunch of momentum heading into this weekend, so I'd like to keep that progression going and keep starting to build towards the top half of the field on the ovals.' Heading into Dover van Gisbergen leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings on 367 points from Riley Herbst (238).
TimesLIVE
14-07-2025
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
Shane van Gisbergen races to victory at Sonoma Raceway
NASCAR's new King of the Road is having an unstoppable summer to remember. For the third time in five races, Shane van Gisbergen leveled the field at a NASCAR Cup Series road course, zigging and zagging to victory at Sonoma Raceway in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, California. The Trackhouse Racing road ace outran Chase Briscoe in a four-lap sprint on their third late restart to top the No 19 Toyota driver by 1.13 seconds for his second straight win. It was his third victory of 2025, tying him with Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson for the series lead. He won for the fourth time in 34 career starts, the fewest to get to four since Parnelli Jones needed 31 in 1967. Van Gisbergen, known as SVG, said it was hard to believe his team, winless as it headed to Mexico City last month, would start third by way of wins there, Chicago and Sonoma if the playoffs started with the current standings. "Hard to believe that, isn't it?" said SVG, who led 97 of 110 laps. "We've built up all year and got better and better. We need to keep getting better on the ovals and start proving some people wrong." Runner-up Briscoe compared Van Gisbergen to the five-time NBA Most Valuable Player who won six championships and owns a NASCAR team. "The only opportunity (to pass SVG) was on the restarts," said the Joe Gibbs Racing pilot. "Obviously, I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I felt like that was probably what it was like. "That guy's unbelievable on road courses. He's raised the bar on the entire series." Chase Elliott, Michael McDowell and Bell were top-five finishers in the six caution event. Chevrolet scored its third straight win and fourth in the past five races. After Van Gisbergen scored his third consecutive road course pole and fourth overall of his career, all on road courses, last week's Chicago winner led the field to green on a track that had been slick all weekend due to a sealer placed on the 12-turn, 3.2km layout. The Auckland, New Zealand, native led the first 22 laps of Stage 1 but decided to pit with a nearly seven-second lead over points leader William Byron. That turned the lead over to Ross Chastain, who led after the 25th lap and grabbed 10 bonus points. Van Gisbergen and Bubba Wallace trailed the No 1 Chevrolet at the break, with Ricky Stenhouse Jnr and Byron completing the top five. With 10 circuits left in Stage 2, Trackhouse teammates Chastain and Daniel Suarez, the 2022 Sonoma winner, made hard contact after Suarez's No 99 blocked Chastain and was turned backwards on the track. Van Gisbergen's run in the second stage resembled the first, though he did it with a much smaller advantage. He topped Briscoe by over three seconds as pitting began on lap 52. After bringing in his No 88 for service, Van Gisbergen passed Larson, who led his first lap since Charlotte on Memorial Day weekend, for the stage win. Kyle Busch, Wallace and Stenhouse followed behind the two. Two incidents on lap 62 brought out the first caution for cause as Chris Buescher forced Ryan Blaney off into a grassy patch and Wallace and Hamlin spun near each other.
San Francisco Chronicle
13-07-2025
- Automotive
- San Francisco Chronicle
Shane van Gisbergen dominates on another road course, wins at Sonoma to extend streak
SONOMA, Calif. (AP) — Shane van Gisbergen extended his winning streak to two straight and three victories in the last five weeks with yet another dominating run on a road course. The New Zealander once again showed he's in a completely different class on road and street courses than his rivals as he led 97 of 110 laps Sunday to win from pole at Sonoma Raceway. All three of his wins this year have been from pole — which tied him with Jeff Gordon for a NASCAR record of three consecutive road course victories from the top starting spot. Gordon did it between the 1998 and 1999 seasons. Victory number four for van Gisbergen — who stunned NASCAR in 2023 when he popped into the debut Chicago street course race from Australian V8 Supercars and won — seemed a given before teams even arrived at the picturesque course in California wine country. His rivals have lamented that 'SVG' has a unique braking technique he mastered Down Under that none of them — all oval specialists — can ever learn. That win in Chicago two years ago led van Gisbergen to move to the United States for a career change driving stock cars for Trackhouse Racing. He and Ross Chastain have pumped energy into the team over this summer stretch with Chastain kicking it off with a Memorial Day weekend victory at the Coca-Cola 600. Van Gisbergen is the fastest driver to win four Cup Series races — in his 34th start — since Parnelli Jones in 1969. He's also the winningest driver born outside the United States. 'It means everything. That's why I race cars. I had an amazing time in Australia, and then to come here and the last couple weeks, or years, actually, has been a dream come true,' said van Gisbergen. 'I've really enjoyed my time in NASCAR. Thanks, everyone, for making me feel so welcome. I hope I'm here for a long time to come.' The Sonoma win made it four victories for Trackhouse in eight weeks. Van Gisbergen was second from pole in Saturday's Xfinity Series race. Although he dominated again Sunday, van Gisbergen pitted from the lead with 27 laps remaining and then had to drive his way back to the front. He got it with a pass of Michael McDowell with 19 laps remaining, but two late cautions made van Gisbergen win restarts to close out the victory in his Chevrolet. Chase Briscoe was second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. 'I never played basketball against Michael Jordan in his prime, but I feel like that's probably what it was like,' said Briscoe after not being able to pass van Gisbergen on the two late restarts — the last with five laps remaining. 'That guy is unbelievable on road courses. He's just so good. He's really raised the bar on this entire series.' Briscoe was followed by Chase Elliott in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. McDowell in a Chevy for Spire Motorsports was fourth and Christopher Bell in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing was fifth. In-Season challenge The mid-season tournament that pays $1 million to the winner is down to four drivers. Alex Bowman finished 25th and eliminated Ty Dillon, who finished 26th. Tyler Reddick (11th) knocked out Ryan Preece (16th), John Hunter Nemechek knocked out teammate Erik Jones as they finished 21st and 22nd, and Ty Gibbs, with a seventh-place finish, eliminated Zane Smith. Bowman, at eighth, is the highest-seeded driver still in the challenge, which debuted this year. Crew fight NASCAR officials had to separate the crews for Brad Keselowski and Ty Gibbs when members from the two teams scrapped on pit road during the race. Keselowski's crew confronted Gibbs' crew after Gibbs drove through their pit stall and narrowly missed hitting some of Keselowski's crew members already in place waiting for him. The confrontation appeared to be contained to pushing and shoving and NASCAR quickly stepped between them. Both crews were given an official warning for fighting but NASCAR said Gibbs did nothing wrong. Clean race — for awhile It took 61 of the 110 laps for the first caution for an on-track incident — when Ryan Blaney was knocked off the course and into the dirt early in the third stage. The contact from Chris Buescher left Blaney stranded, and right before NASCAR could throw the yellow, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin both spun. The race ended with six cautions — two in the final stretch. Up next The Cup Series races Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway in Delaware, where Denny Hamlin won last year. ___
