V8: High Drama For Van Gisbergen And Former Team

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V8: High Drama For Van Gisbergen And Former Team

Rising V8 Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen retired last year with a non-compete clause for 2013, yet signed to drive for another V8 team. Huh?

Marshall Pruett | Posted February 01, 2013

Will Shane van Gisbergen ever turn a lap in the Tekno team's Holden Commodore, or will his former team use the courts to hold SvG to the non-compete contract he signed? (Photo: Tekno)

It appears the strength of a signed agreement between a V8 driver and his former team--a divorce settlement, effectively--will now be put to the test.

Unhappy with the direction his Ford-powered Stone Brothers Racing team was taking with new partners Erebus Motorsports and AMG Mercedes, rapid Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen negotiated an exit from the contract extension he signed with SBR in 2012.

Reports had SvG experiencing everything from career burnout to dissatisfaction with SBR dropping its proven Fords in favor of developing new C-Class AMG Mercedes, but the 23-year-old--at least publically--refused to go into any real specifics behind the shock move to park himself at such a vital point in his career.

He fleshed out the reasons in last week's announcement that he'd signed to drive for the Tekno Autosports V8 team.

“Towards the end of last year, I started to lose motivation. The environment wasn’t right and I was struggling to remember why I was racing – it wasn’t a great mindset to be in, so I made the decision to take a break,” Van Gisbergen said.

“I spent six weeks back home and was able to recharge my batteries. I had a good hard think about my career and considered my options. As part of that, I decided that if I was going to return, I needed a fresh challenge in a new environment, and this is exactly the opportunity I was looking for."

As part of his exit plan, SvG was reportedly given options to continue racing in 2013, albeit in any series other than the V8 Supercars, and only for teams that do not carry sponsorship that competes with any of the major brands represented on SBR's fleet of V8s.

If you're keeping score, SvG, SBR's lead driver, wanted out, was allowed out under specific contractual conditions, yet appears to have reneged on the non-compete clause and signed with a different team.

It's no surprise that SvG's signing with Tekno was met with great concern by his former team, who broke open the details of SvG's exit deal.

“At Winton, Friday morning 16th November 2012, Shane van Gisbergen asked if all the SBR travelling race crew could be assembled first thing in the morning,” an SBR statement said on Friday. “SvG informed the race crew that he wasn’t enjoying his racing and he was going to take a year off and might race quad bikes for fun.

“SvG’s statement that he was not enjoying his racing was no surprise. This was clear enough at the previous race meets at Bathurst and the Gold Coast 600 where it was almost impossible to get SvG to attend autograph sessions and sometimes even communicate with his engineer and crew. SvG was very clear that he wanted a year off and wasn’t going to race again unless he wanted too, not because others wanted him to race. He was going to live in his parent’s pool apartment and 'chill out' for a year.

“In the circumstances, SBR agreed to release SVG from his 2013, 2014 and 2015 driving contract. SBR and SVG signed a brief termination document. To protect itself and its sponsors SBR required SVG to agree not to test, practice or race any V8 Supercar in 2013. The termination document allowed SVG to race anything other than a V8 Supercar in 2013 if he so wished. The termination document allowed SvG to do whatever he wished from 2014 onwards."

Where this surly bit of V8 drama is headed is currently unknown, but the Erebus/SBR team makes it sound like they won't take it sitting down.

“Less than two months later SvG now proposes, through the media, to race a V8 Supercar for another team in 2013 contrary to the termination agreement," the statement continued. "SvG has explained his move on the basis of dissatisfaction with the direction in which SBR was heading. At no time during the termination process did SvG express any such dissatisfaction with SBR; in fact the opposite was communicated to SBR management on numerous occasions.

“To say that SBR is displeased with the conduct of SVG is to say the least. SBR will not be making any further comment regarding this matter. SBR is considering its legal position and whether it is worthwhile holding SvG to his promises.”

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. Now in his 27th year in the sport, Pruett was an open-wheel mechanic, engineer and manager before joining SPEED. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.