Shane van Gisbergen defends Richie Stanaway after GRM sidelining

Ousted Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM) driver Richie Stanaway has found a seemingly unlikely ally in Shane van Gisbergen after the Race 27 winner spoke up against his fellow Kiwi’s doubters.

Stanaway was put into the firing line on Sunday morning after it was announced he would be relieved of his duties to drive throughout the day, punishment from team boss Garry Rogers for missing a compulsory signing session in the morning.

While Stanaway said it was a mix up of timings due to yesterday’s session being later in the day, Rogers stood firm by his decision, putting his Super2 driver Dylan O’Keeffe in the #33 car instead.

The 2019 season has been rough for Stanaway after he missed a handful of races earlier in the year, reaggravating an old back injury he sustained racing Formula Renault 3.5 in 2012.

Speaking at the post-race press conference, van Gisbergen stood up for the young gun and 2017 Sandown 500 winner, despite an earlier run-in between the pair in Friday practice.

“I had some good chats with him the last few weeks and again told him to call me this week,” van Gisbergen said.

“He’s been through a tough few years, he’s probably misunderstood in some ways. Publically, he’s a ripper of a kid; what he went through in Europe, he was pretty isolated when he broke his back, it’s taken a long time to recover from.

“He’s a star driver and probably hasn’t had the right stuff to show his potential here, obviously he’s been frustrated by it.

“When you race in Europe, you don’t do any media stuff; you race the car and that’s it. It’s a lot of your job here and he probably hasn’t had the right training or right attitude for it.

“For him, you take it at face value, it was a mistake of his this morning. He slept in, thinking his signing was later which is what he said to me.

“He said he’s been putting in as much effort as possible, his car was shunted by someone else in yesterday’s race but he got in and did the best job he could, three laps down and stills hammered for it.”

Last week it was announced GRM would leave Supercars after 24 years, partially due to their main sponsor, Boost Mobile, backing out of sponsorship due to dissatisfaction with the Supercars technical package.

Stanaway was a key part of Boost’s relationship with GRM, something van Gisbergen worries may hinder the young star moving forwards.

“I just hope he doesn’t give up on his racing, he keeps charging, he’s talented,” van Gisbergen added.

“I thought Garry (Rogers) would have been good for him but he didn’t really move forwards.”

GRM has yet to confirm whether Stanway will return to the team in 2019 for the remaining two rounds.