After striking a deal with team boss Ross Stone during the Australian Grand Prix support event, V8 Supercar Championship racer Shane van Gisbergen is to step back into Formula Vee in New Zealand for a one-off race.
The Stone Brothers Racing rookie will return to New Zealand in early May to compete in a one-hour endurance race at Manfield, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the New Zealand Formula Vee association.
Having done the event twice before, van Gisbergen was keen to return and attempt to pull off his first win but had to get the okay from Stone first.
“I was out of the top 20 after the first practice session at the Manufacturers Challenge at the Australian Grand Prix,” he explained. “Ross knew that I wanted to do the Formula Vee race in NZ so he made a deal with me; I could go if I qualified inside the top 15. We came in 14th so I got to go.”
Van Gisbergen will race for the Sabre Motorsport team who he drove for in the 2004-2005 season and admitted he was looking forward to the event.
“It's a bit more of a social event and it will be a great chance to go back and catch up with everyone,” he said. “The race is still taken pretty seriously and it includes two fuel stops; it's always good racing. I've been in a position to win it before but never pulled it off so hopefully this year things will be different.”
![Shane van Gisbergen - SP Tools Ford Falcon [Pic credit: Stone Brothers Racing]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/408699.jpg)
