CONCORD, N.C. — Shane van Gisbergen is making the career switch to NASCAR as the Australian Supercars star has signed a developmental contract with Trackhouse Racing.
The team made the announcement at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on September 13.
The three-time Supercar champion and winner of NASCAR’s inaugural Chicago Street Race will move to the United States and drive in a combination of races in NASCAR’s three national series in the 2024 season.
Trackhouse has agreed to build a 2024 program that will put the 34-year-old Auckland, New Zealand native in select races in NASCAR’s Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series plus some late model and other races.
Since shocking NASCAR on July 2 by winning his Cup Series debut, van Gisbergen has set his sights on launching a NASCAR career.
“This announcement means to many things to me,” van Gisbergen said Wednesday night. “I’m proud of what I have achieved here in Australia, but I’m excited by this new chapter in my career and the opportunities that it brings.
NEWS: SVG is coming to America!
— Trackhouse Racing (@TeamTrackhouse) September 14, 2023
He’ll race in a combination of @NASCAR’s three national series in 2024.@shanevg97 | #ThisIsTrackhouse pic.twitter.com/wvoRF7PEn9
“I’m so thankful to everyone what has played a role in my career so far, especially Triple Eight Race Engineering, and looking forward to finishing our year with a few more highlights,” van Gisbergen continued.
“It is time for a new challenge and this adventure into NASCAR will be the biggest challenge of my career and one I’m really looking forward to. I want to thank Justin Marks (Trackhouse founder and owner) and everyone at Trackhouse Racing who have taken a chance on me and given me this opportunity. I’m excited to get to America and getting the season started.”
Van Gisbergen’s Chicago victory and tenth-place finish on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 13 are his only two Cup Series starts. His only other NASCAR experience came Aug. 11 at Indianapolis Raceway Park where he made his paved oval career debut. He kept a lead lap position until the final few laps, finishing 19th.
At Chicago, Van Gisbergen became one of six foreign born drivers to win a Cup Series race and the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win his first Cup Series start. It was just the latest entry in a resume that includes Supercars Championships for Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016, 2021 and 2022, plus 78 wins and 47 pole positions making him the fourth most successful driver in series history. He also won the Bathurst 1000 in 2020 and 2022.
Van Gisbergen’s Chicago opportunity came through Trackhouse’s Project 91 program created last year and designed to expand the organization’s global reach by fielding a Cup Series entry for renowned international racing drivers. Indianapolis marked the fourth race for Project 91 after appearances by 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l in 2022 and at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on March 26.
Marks said Trackhouse is designing van Gisbergen’s 2024 schedule to introduce him to NASCAR.
“This is going to be a tremendous challenge for Shane but he is a tremendous driver as we have all seen,” Marks said. “Next year will be about getting him acclimated to oval track racing, superspeedways, 1.5-mile tracks and everything he has never experienced in his career. It’s obviously going to be a learning process, but we think Shane will perform quite well.”
Van Gisbergen will join Trackhouse drivers Daniel Suárez and Ross Chastain in 2024.