Shane van Gisbergen has revealed that he became infected with COVID-19 between the Repco Bathurst 1000 and this weekend’s Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver won the Great Race for a second time in three years before a rare quiet period in his life as a motorsport driver.
It turned out that the full two-weekend break from competition was fortunately timed, even if van Gisbergen did not enjoy the period.
“I had COVID, so it was pretty shit,” said the Repco Supercars Championship leader.
“It hasn’t been good but I feel good now.”
Asked about his fitness now, van Gisbergen said, “I’m good,” although he did admit that a hot afternoon of driving between the concrete walls of Surfers Paradise had left him tired.
“Just pretty knackered actually to start the weekend – we’ve had a big week – but yeah, sleep tonight and then just tomorrow keep as cool as I can and pre-cool,” he remarked.
“All our cooling systems in the car are good, so yeah, just got to take it easy.”
It is not the first time that van Gisbergen has been infected by COVID-19, having been forced out of April’s Bathurst 6 Hour event for the same reason.
“It’s good; I didn’t miss a race this time,” he said of when his latest bout occurred.
Notably, the 33-year-old did not fill his usual role in Triple Eight Race Engineering’s GT team at last weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS round at The Bend, although his comments would suggest the coronavirus case was not the reason for that absence.
Van Gisbergen was pipped to Practice 1 honours at Surfers Paradise by Will Davison by 0.0188s before finishing the day third on combined times after being just 0.0201s off the pace set by Cameron Waters in Practice 2.
The New Zealander is on the precipice of wrapping up a second straight drivers’ championship title tomorrow, given he is 567 clear of nearest rival Waters in the standings with 600 more on offer this year.
Qualifying for Race 31 of the season takes place tomorrow from 11:25 local time/12:25 AEDT, with a Top 10 Shootout to follow later in the day.
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