Supercup rookie cleared after freak surfing injury

Love, the reigning Australian Carrera Cup champion, broke his hip in three places while surfing in his native Western Australia during the coronavirus lockdown.

He had to undergo surgery to reassemble his hip via a plate and two 60 millimetre screws.

It's his second significant injury in the last year, Love having broken his hand in a crash in Darwin last June.

“I knew straight away I had done something bad to my hip," he said of the accident.

"I have never felt pain quite like that before. After I finally got dragged out of the water, I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. I knew it was broken straight away because my hip bone was sticking out, so it was never going to be good.

"Scans showed the extent of the injury and that my hip needed to be operated on. Luckily it was the top of my hip bone and not near the joint.

“After breaking my hand last year in that crash in Darwin, I was lucky I had someone to call who knew me and what needed to happen to get me back into the car as soon as possible."

After spending the last fortnight recovering from the hip surgery, Love has now been cleared to return to Europe to prepare for his Supercup campaign with the Fach Auto Tech squad.

He'll fly out of Australia on June 18.

While anticipating some pain once back in a car, Love doesn't think it will affect his rookie Supercup season.

“If there was a year to have a freak accident, this was the one.” Love said.

“But now that the Supercup season calendar has been concreted in, I’m very excited to get back into it.

"This year was always about preparation for next year, with a new team, new tracks and completely new competition. I expect it to be a year with a lot of learning, but a challenge I’m extremely excited for.”

The Supercup season will kick off at the Red Bull Ring on the first weekend in July as part of the Austrian Grand Prix.