Filipino driver Andre Canard will venture from his homeland to compete with Volante Rosso in Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS endurance race at Sydney Motorsport Park later this month.
Canard will team-up with young gun Alex Gardner in the #14 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 in the round, which will feature a highly-anticipated three-hour endurance race.
Canard has been racing in Fanatec GT Asia this season as a competitive bronze driver in a Ferrari 296 GT3.
This will be Canard’s first time competing at Sydney Motorsport Park, and also the first race in an Aston Martin GT3.
The Volante Rosso Aston Martin began its 2024 Fanatec GT Australia season at the third round at Queensland Raceway and showed improved pace at its second round at Phillip Island as the team developed the set-up.
Canard will be the third co-driver to join Gardner in as many rounds, with Ben Porter (Queensland Raceway) and Ross Polakis (Phillip Island) sharing the car in planned changes.
The Aston Martin will be the sole GT3 entry from Volante Rosso at Sydney Motorsport Park, with the team’s Mercedes AMG entry returning to the fray at the season’s sprint finale at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, in November.
The second and final round of the Fanatec GT Australia endurance championship will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park on October 18-20 as part of the Shannons SpeedSeries' Race Sydney.
Qualifying and the three-hour race can be watched live and free in Australia on 7plus. International viewers can watch via the GT World YouTube channel.
QUOTES
Alex Canard
Driver, #14 Volante Rosso Aston Martin Vantage GT3
“I’m really looking forward to coming to Australia to race in Sydney,” said Canard.
“I like endurance racing more than sprints, so this one really suits me and I can’t wait to come down.
“I’m also looking forward to meeting Alex, as well as the team owners Chris (Papadopoulos) and Josh (Hunt).
“I haven’t had a look at much of the track yet. The team is going to test before the event so I will look at all of that data and get my self familiar with it that way.
“A lot of my family is in Australia, so this gives me a chance to see them too.
“For me, this is a new team, new car and a name track. It will be a challenge, but hopefully it will be OK.”
Chris Papadopoulos
Director, Volante Rosso
“We’re very pleased to have Andre joining us for this endurance round,” said Papadopoulos.
“We’ve done a good amount of prep work with him over the last few months working towards this outing and his quality and experience is readily apparent, with a great attitude too. It fills us with confidence heading into this event.
“We’ve made great progress with the Aston Martin since we first turned a wheel two months ago, so of course we’re itching to get back out there and get into the competition.”