- Declan Fraser’s Gold Coast home destroyed by fire
- Fraser received the news just one day before the big race.
- He says he regrouped with the help of a sports psychologist
V8 Supercars star Declan Fraser has spoken about the horror of discovering his Gold Coast home was destroyed by fire just hours before he was due to race in the Bathurst 1000.
On Saturday, while preparing for the big race at Mount Panorama, the 24-year-old Brad Jones Racing driver was told that his luxury Hope Island home had caught fire.
No one was hurt in the fire, but it left Fraser with nowhere to live and destroyed almost all of his clothing and personal belongings, and he is far from the only one suffering.
“It’s been a wild 24 hours… I found out yesterday in the middle of the day and it was pretty heartbreaking,” Fraser said. News Corporation.
‘My main concern was the people I live with there, who own the house, I was just renting it to them. They were in the house at the time it happened.
“They got out safely, which I’m very, very grateful… That they got out safely is extraordinary, I think a fire happened very quickly.” That was my main concern above all.
‘They are very good family friends, who I moved with when I left Melbourne and came to the Gold Coast. I have lived with them for about six months.
“It’s absolutely devastating for them because their home and their whole life is there, and my life too.”
Declan Fraser (pictured) has spoken about the horror of discovering his Gold Coast home was destroyed by fire just hours before he was due to race in the Bathurst 1000.
Fraser says news of the fire (pictured) was “heartbreaking” and is glad no one was hurt.
Fraser’s clothes and personal belongings were destroyed in the fire, which also devastated a family with whom he shared the house.
‘I’m very glad they’re okay. The elements can be replaced, but it’s quite heartbreaking.’
Fraser says he sought the help of a sports psychologist to help him cope with the shocking news and focus on his work.
“Spending many hours on the phone with my sports psychologist helped me get through it,” Fraser said.
‘The most important thing is to try to refocus and do the best job I can.
“The plan was to bring home a trophy, but obviously some things in the race didn’t go our way and luck wasn’t on our side.
Fraser said he regrouped for the race with the help of a sports psychologist.
‘It was all over the news, so they (my family) decided it would be best to tell me early so I had time to process it.
“They told me that yesterday at lunchtime… if it was up to me I wouldn’t have wanted to know until after the race, but it was all over the news and a lot of people messaged me, basically 10 minutes after my parents told me .
“I was probably lucky they told me when they did.”