Van Gisbergen Gen3 Supercar heading to New Zealand

The Gen3 Camaro in which Shane van Gisbergen made the last start of his Repco Supercars Championship career, for now, is heading to his homeland.

888A-063 started life as the Supercheap Auto #888 Chevrolet at the 2023 Darwin Triple Crown before being converted to the Red Bull Ampol #97 for the final six rounds of the season.

That period included van Gisbergen winning from pole position at Sydney Motorsport Park and claiming the third Bathurst 1000 victory – and 80th championship race win – of his career in October alongside Richie Stanaway.

The Tony Quinn-owned car’s next chapter will come across the ditch in New Zealand, as revealed by Greg Murphy on a bonus episode of the Castrol Motorsport News Podcast released this morning.

Among its stops will be at New Zealand’s Historic GP at Taupō Motorsport Park on January 19-21.

“Only just recently confirmed in the last few days was that Shane van Gisbergen’s Camaro that he finished with in Adelaide is also going to be sent over,” Murphy told host Will Dale.

“We don’t know exactly what we’re going to be able to do with that car just yet, but Tony Quinn is shipping that car over to New Zealand to do the rounds and I’m sure it will be at Highlands at the museum for a bit.

“But it’s also going to be in Taupō so we’re pretty excited about having that and something for the fans to get up close and personal with as well.

“The only problem is, SVG is not going to be there with it.”

Van Gisbergen, of course, will be Stateside preparing for life as a NASCAR regular.

Triple Eight will not require 888A-063 next season, given it has committed to building two new cars.

It’s believed 888A-063 will be the first Gen3 Supercar to visit New Zealand.

Other significant cars confirmed for the Historic GP include the 1993 Bathurst 1000-winning Perkins Engineering VP Commodore and the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour-winning Monaro.

Those are to be driven at the event by Jack Perkins and Murphy, respectively.

The Taupō Historic GP is the second round of the Super Sprint MotorSport NZ Championship and will host the opening round of the Castrol Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship (CTFROC) as part of a unique modern/historic flavoured race meeting. 

The event is also a unique celebration of Trans-Tasman Holden history and will feature a ‘Holden All-Comers’ race open to all Holden race cars with a homologated roll cage and logbook.

Taupō Motorsport Park will host its first Repco Supercars Championship round next year on April 19-21.