Van Gisbergen eager to return to night racing

Shane van Gisbergen is buoyed by a return to night racing at Sydney Motorsport Park when the 2021 season resumes in October.

The Eastern Creek venue is set to stage four back-to-back weekends of racing, starting on October 29.

Supercars confirmed Monday that the first Sydney SuperNight event will be headlined by a Saturday night race and two Sunday sprints.

Points leader van Gisbergen has recorded mixed results racing under lights.

He scored a podium for Stone Brothers Racing at a floodlit Yas Marina Circuit in 2010.

Eight years later, the Kiwi won the inaugural Sydney SuperNight, leading a one-two result for Triple Eight.

He finished fifth in both Perth races in 2019, and was unable to convert a front-row start into a podium in Sydney last year.

Van Gisbergen has already claimed 11 race wins in 2021, with his latest victory in Townsville also his 40th for Triple Eight.

Van Gisbergen on the Abu Dhabi podium in 2010

With an eye on resuming his dominant run to the 2021 title, van Gisbergen was eager to race under the new permanent lighting at the western Sydney circuit.

“They have the new lighting system and it’s really good,” he told Supercars.com.

“It’s nice to see how cool the cars look and how fast it feels at night.

“You only do a few little things different [when racing at night].

“You highlight colours inside the car so you can still see all of your switches, but when you’re racing there’s not much different, it’s just awesome.”

Sydney Motorsport Park completed the installation of 132 permanent lights at the circuit in November 2020.

October’s Sydney SuperNight event will be the first time the Supercars field will race under the new lighting system.

Triple Eight and its rivals will travel to New South Wales for the final five rounds of the 2021 season.

The Repco Bathurst 1000 will end the 2021 season on December 5.

Van Gisbergen scored an epic Sydney win in 2018

Van Gisbergen said his team will be extensively preparing before heading to Sydney.

“I think we’ll have to take some really good inventory on the road with us,” the 32-year-old said.

“We’ll be doing five rounds without coming back to base, so the preparation on the cars will be very intense before we go away.

“After the Sydney races, we’ll need all of the bits to refresh the cars for Bathurst.

“The cars normally have a full rebuild before Bathurst and I’m sure this year will be no different, just that we’ll have to do it on the road.

“The stocktake and the preparation of all our spare parts will be a lot to make sure we have everything we need while we’re away.”