Van Gisbergen has been racing outside of V8s for the last three years, starting with a Daytona 24 Hour deal back in 2014, before joining McLaren in a Blancpain Endurance role in 2015.

He has since signed on for a second year in Europe with McLaren, this time with Garage 59, and won the opening BES round at Monza with Rob Bell and Come Ledogar.

While the driving style required to be a quick in a GT3 cars is radically different to that required to be competitive in V8s, van Gisbergen says the seat time is still beneficial for him as a driver.

“[GT3 cars] are awesome to drive; you’ve got have a particular style, and you’ve still got to push them hard to get the lap time,” he said.

“But, for me, I do it because it’s extra miles. I’m always in the car, get to see some awesome circuits, and race some pretty top guys. You just experience some cool things; there’re some pretty cool races I wouldn’t have done if I wasn’t allowed to do that.

“I’m better off for the last three years racing other stuff.”

V8s a culture shock

Having now competed – successfully – in Europe, van Gisbergen says he understands why V8 Supercars has traditionally been a hard nut for overseas drivers to crack.

“It’s easier going that way [from V8s to GTs],” he added.

“Our cars are definitely the hardest I’ve ever driven, and the hardest to be competitive in. The level of drivers here is huge, and you see that in the field spread of lap times.

“Drivers over there [in Europe] are awesome, don’t get me wrong, at what they do. But they never drive anything like this. And they come here, 200 more horsepower, less grip, no traction control, and all that stuff.

“When I come back [from Europe], in practice I just ask for a long run and get used to this car again, because when you drive over there you rely on all that stuff. They’re just too easy to drive, those GT cars now. You’ve got to drive them hard, but for European drivers, when they jump in these things it’s a bit of a culture shock.”