91 at Chicago) and finishing second in the GTD category of the 2015 Rolex 24 at Daytona – but there still is a steep learning curve for van Gisbergen (who has 78 victories and 47 pole positions in Supercars). He has dabbled in American motorsports before – having grown up as a fan of Tony Stewart (whose 2011 championship crew chief, Darian Grubb, will call the shots on the No. Now van Gisbergen, 33, becomes the latest GM Motorsports-affiliated driver in another series to dive into Cup largely with the help of the Charlotte Technical Center. After driving a Chevrolet in Ind圜ar, Conor Daly also made the transition to three starts in Cup (making his Roval debut last year and then racing the Daytona 500 and COTA). IMSA champion Jordan Taylor, who drives a Corvette in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, logged several hours in the sim before making his NASCAR Cup debut at COTA in place of Chase Elliott. Jordan Taylor works with Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Chase Elliott, before his NASCAR Cup debut (GM Motorsports). Though they primarily work on optimizing setups for NASCAR teams such as Hendrick, Trackhouse and Richard Childress Racing, they also have helped drivers form other series get acclimated to Cup.įormula One champion Kimi Raikkonen, who made the first two starts in the Project 91 car at Watkins Glen International last year and Circuit of the Americas this year, has been in the Charlotte Technical Center simulator. Warren said there are more than 100 staff members who work on NASCAR and Ind圜ar, and they are supported by about 50 software engineers. It happened a lot more seamlessly than I thought it would.” As we grew the people and technology, it became really clear there are a lot of things that the strength is in tying it into GM engineering production. “Everyone is always clamoring for time,” Warren said. Though the cockpits are interchangeable, one sim currently is dedicated to Next Gen, and other is split between the Ind圜ar and NASCAR Xfinity and truck series. To executive director of competition at GM Motorsports, said a third simulator will be added in mid-July to help relieve the incessant demand for seat time from every series. Warren, who was promoted three months ago from NASCAR program director 3 Corvette co-driven by Jordan Taylor (GM Motorsports). The front entrance of the Charlotte Technical Center is flanked by the No. So we built everything in our interaction with the teams, and you get that sense when you come in there. “I want everyone at GM Motorsports to really have the sense they were racing together and really mattered. NASCAR IN CHICAGO: What to know about the first street course in Cup history We’ve been fortunate to have some success, and it drives that environment. “You’ll walk down the hall, and Will Power will be passing Kyle Larson. “You get that sense of energy when you come in there,” Warren told NBC Sports. Their engineers and team managers gather in the same conference rooms to hash out how their vastly different cars are handling on the same racetracks. Eric Warren often sees signs that GM Motorsports’ global reach is producing a close-knit camaraderie.Ĭhampions and winners from the Ind圜ar and NASCAR Cup series swap cockpits in high-tech simulators. Inside a mammoth 130,000-square-foot hub of racing development
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