SHANE van Gisbergen already thinks racing in the Bathurst 1000 is “pretty cool”, but come next week there will be one more thing for him to like.
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Van Gisbergen will get the chance to tackle the annual 161-lap endurance challenge alongside one of his good mates in Earl Bamber.
Like van Gisbergen, Bamber is a New Zealand native and they grew up racing against each other.
While van Gisbergen has gone on to win a Supercars drivers’ championship, Bamber has twice won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and claimed the 2017 World Endurance Championship title with Porsche.
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“He's one of my best friends, so it's been even easier for us to get up to speed and just hanging out at the race track and stuff has been a lot of fun,” van Gisbergen said.
“It just makes it fun, everything is so open with the conversations and what we need to do better.
“Having that relationship and not having to build on that and just focus on getting on with the job is certainly helpful.”
At the Sandown 500 when Bamber made his Supercars debut, he was impressive in the Red Bull Racing Commodore.
He picked his way through the field after starting 11th on the grid, handing over to van Gisbergen after lap 54 in sixth.
From there van Gisbergen went on to place second.
“He's a quality bloke, I think he showed that at Sandown. Bathurst is going to be a massive test for him, but he’s up for the challenge,” van Gisbergen said.
“He was driving very well at Sandown, so I'm looking forward to seeing how he goes at Bathurst.
“I think Bathurst is a completely different ball game, it's a different track and a lot of big differences compared to tracks that we’ve just come from.
“But our cars have really improved the last few rounds, we’ve had some great set up improvements. Hopefully we can continue that on when we get to Bathurst.”
Bamber will make his Bathurst 1000 debut, but has previously driven at Mount Panorama.
He boasts three starts in the Bathurst 12 Hour, two of which resulted in class wins in the Grove Porsche 911.
But he’s excited to get his chance to compete in the Mount’s more iconic enduro and do it with a fellow New Zealander that he knows well.
“To be honest, the Bathurst 1000 and going to Australia to do that race as a co-driver has been on my radar for a long time,” Bamber said.
“Porsche has known I’ve wanted to do it, and 2018 is the first time where we haven’t had a calendar clash for the past three or four years.
“It is funny to think we raced go-karts against each other as kids back home, Formula Fords … 15 years later we're together, which is kind of crazy.”