Van Gisbergen 'knackered' in Gold Coast heat

Shane van Gisbergen led the chorus of Supercars drivers battling the Gold Coast heat, saying he’s “pretty knackered”.

Drivers completed two 30-minute practice sessions on Friday at Surfers Paradise.

Friday’s temperatures nudged 30 degrees, with drivers running cooling systems in their cars.

It made for a particularly uncomfortable day for van Gisbergen, who revealed he contracted COVID-19 after Bathurst.

Van Gisbergen caught COVID-19 in April, with the illness ruling him out of the Bathurst 6 Hour.

He was set to reunite with Rob Rubis and Shane Smollen, and was replaced by Nick Percat.

“I’m pretty knackered actually to start the week,” the points leader said.

“Sleep tonight then tomorrow, keep as cool as I can, and pre-cool.

“All of our cooling systems in the car are good. Just gotta take it easy.”

When asked if he enjoyed time off, van Gisbergen revealed he fought COVID in his time off.

“I had COVID, which was pretty shit… it hasn’t been good,” he said.

“But I feel good. I didn’t miss a race this time.”

Van Gisbergen ended the day third in practice behind Cam Waters and Will Davison, with Chaz Mostert fourth.

The top four were covered by 0.09s.

Van Gisbergen made an error early in Practice 2 when he fired down the Turn 11 escape road.

Critically, van Gisbergen shook off the mistake to run at the front, and ended up third.

However, van Gisbergen was one of a number of drivers to vent his frustration at the kerb sensor system.

Kerb strikes proved a bugbear for drivers on Friday, with several lap times deleted.

It will prove crucial come Friday qualifying, given the winner has come from the front row 29 times in 39 races.

“My car’s pretty good,” he said.

"I did a mint first sector, got a bit more angle at Turn 1 and popped a kerb sensor.

“It is what it is, it’s the same for everyone. It feels random at the same time as well.

"As drivers you don’t know where the line is, you kind of just wing it and hope.

“A few times there I cut and didn’t get a kerb hop. I’m very confused.

“You have no idea in the car when you’re hopping or not."

Cars will return to the track on Saturday for the first 250km race, for which the grid will be set by qualifying and a Shootout.