The relationship between Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) and his former team Triple Eight Race Engineering’s co-owner Jessica Dane came into mainstream media back in 2022. The couple were involved for quite some time before then but their courtship had been a well-maintained secret in the V8 Supercars community.
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Apart from being the daughter of the team’s founder Roland Dane and the girlfriend of SVG, 33-year-old Jess Dane holds degrees in journalism and law. She is also a top commentator in the Australasian rally scene and a strong advocate of women in motorsports. As things stand, she owns 30% of Triple Eight and is the second largest shareholder.
When SVG decided to pursue his NASCAR dreams in the United States, Dane accompanied him. However, she did have her ambitions and goals of what to do while in the country. Talking about her planned continued involvement with Triple Eight, she said, “I can still do a limited amount of work for Triple Eight remotely, as many directors around the world do, and I’ll remain involved.”
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She continued, “It’s still my family, it’s been a part of my life since the 90s in some form or the other, so I wouldn’t cut ties with it.” Weeks after these words and her move to the United States, she stayed in line with the purpose and recently made a cameo at the Thrifty Bathhurst 300.
Jess Dane’s affinity for the United States and her recent return to Australia
Talking about her decision to move to the U.S. last year, Dane said that she’d read a book back in 2012 about a young girl who moved to New York and had been inspired by the lead character to do the same. However, her desire wasn’t re-ignited until she watched SVG race on the Chicago Street Course last year. Thankfully for her, the authorities cleared her visa and she flew to the country alongside her love interest.
While SVG was gunning on all cylinders for his first win in the Xfinity Series last weekend, Dane was cheering for him at the Supercars garage in Bathurst. She told V8 Sleuth of her life in the U.S., “We are settling in well into the U.S. Shane is absolutely loving it, he has found his rhythm and he has found his people and is settling in really well.”
As for Dane herself, she acknowledged that she was waiting to find her feet and was hoping that the several pieces that she had been working on fall into place.
