Triple Eight blocks van Gisbergen Trans Am deal

The Supercars ace has been toying with an appearance in the popular Trans Am series for some time now, following a test in Tim Shaw's Camaro at Queensland Raceway earlier this year.

He was entered for the Bathurst round of the Trans Am series back in April, but was forced to pull out at the last minute after contracting COVID-19.

His racing debut was then pushed back to next month's QR SpeedSeries event, however that has now been called off as well.

This time the reason is an instruction from his Supercars team Triple Eight to not add Trans Am to his already busy schedule.

Triple Eight confirmed to Motorsport.com that it was the team, not Supercars itself, that made the call.

“It’s disappointing for us. We put a lot of effort into getting Shane in the car," said Shaw.

"We had a successful test with him, it was a great day and we were looking forward to a very competitive outing at Queensland Raceway.

“Shane contracted COVID just before the Bathurst round, so that put paid to that, and now political pressures have put a complete end to it.

“It’s just very disappointing for motorsport, because the fans love to see Shane in the car. One of the reasons that he is the best is because he is the modern day Peter Brock – he drives everything.

“At the moment, my car is still entered for QR, so I’ll jump back in and I’ll drive instead of Shane.”

T8 is generally lenient with van Gisbergen's appearances outside Supercars, the Kiwi known for competing in GT racing and rallying.

However it did block a planned speedway campaign last year.

There was also talk before the planned Bathurst debut that Supercars wasn't overly impressed with the idea of one of their superstars driving another V8-powered silhouette racer.

The likeness of a Trans Am, with V8 power and two-door American muscle car shapes, to Supercars is thought to make the Aussie series uncomfortable.