Supercars visited Texas just once for the Austin 400 in 2013 where four, 100km races were held.
Three of those were won by Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Jamie Whincup and then-Brad Jones Racing driver Fabian Coulthard.
Ironically, van Gisbergen will be the most experienced driver going into the NASCAR race at COTA next year having also competed in the Austin 400 with Tekno Autosports.
To date, NASCAR has used the longest 5.513km (3.41-mile) grand prix layout used by Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship.
The shorter, 3.792km (2.3-mile) course misses the esses and chute to the hairpin from what is traditionally Turn 7 to Turn 11.
Instead, it goes left at Turn 6 and over a chicane before returning halfway down the longest straight on the course.
Early simulations show the lap time will be reduced by one minute. As a result, the race will be extended from 68 laps to 100 laps.
Time to take to the course for the first time! @RossChastain takes us through the new @NASCARatCOTA layout. pic.twitter.com/Q0IiiF9sxs
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 20, 2024
NASCAR foreshadowed further changes to the circuit, although the exact nature of them is still to be revealed.
“The move to the national course will make a great race experience even better for our fans with more laps and more action,” said Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith.
“Fans will have more laps to cheer for their favourite driver from the best seats, and the action will come faster with lap times reduced by roughly a minute.
“The National Course and its new pavement will provide the drivers, teams and crew chiefs with a fresh look and a new challenge after running the Full Course the last four years at COTA.”
It’s not the only change drivers will have to adapt to after the circuit was fully repaved after the last visit earlier this year.
“It’s going to be like basically going to a new track, a new town, new area,” said Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain.
“It flows together nice, and (Turn) 12 (of the grand prix circuit) will really change since we don’t have that long backstretch.
“Once I get to (Turn) 13, though, it’s all going to be the same. I’ll get my normal speed I was at last year. Gosh, this place is awesome.”
“This will be a race that we look forward to and put a lot of time into the simulator like we already talked about ahead of time. Look at the test data. See if one of us maybe could test and get some real, real track time and then go race.”
We ran this track in 2013 when the Supercars went to Austin. SVG gonna be all over it 😂🫡 https://t.co/n30o6I39Mu
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) November 20, 2024
Circuit of the Americas is the third race on the 2025 calendar from late March to March 2 after Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
