The Kiwi's season was under threat of being derailed when he crashed his mountain bike and broke his collarbone less than a fortnight ago.
He went into surgery immediately and has since been undergoing hyperbaric treatment to prepare for this weekend's Sandown SuperSprint.
It was only after practice this morning that it became a certainty he'd race this weekend, only for van Gisbergen to expose himself to additional risk of a painful crash by qualifying down in 17th.
However he finished a remarkable day with one of the best drives in Supercars history as he charged through to win the race on the final lap.
Explaining how he got through the day, van Gisbergen said the key change was moving the steering wheel lower and bringing it closer to his body.
He also sampled less resistance on the gearshift and a button handbrake during practice, but abandoned both before the race.
"It was just the wheel," he said.
"We started with the gearshift [resistance] lower, but the strength isn't too bad, it's just the movement, lifting my arm and stuff. So I had to lower the wheel and bring it a lot closer.
"It feels a bit weird but once I was out there I got used to it.
"And then I went to a button handbrake on the wheel, but I couldn't get good starts so I went back to my normal handbrake. It was hard to get enough pressure at the start.
"Maybe it's the adrenaline, but [the pain is] not distracting me at all. It felt good."
He also revealed a change of medication this week made a big difference to his mental state.
"Last week was super tough," he said. "I was on weird drugs that make you think weird things. I'm on some [different] stuff this week that's much better. Drugs are no good, I don't see the appeal to them."
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March 20, 2021 at 03:17PM
https://www.motorsport.com/v8supercars/news/weird-wheel-compromise-van-gisbergen/5812765/
'Weird' wheel compromise helped van Gisbergen - Motorsport.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=Wheel&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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