International driver Alex Peroni will return to Australia to contest the star-studded GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS for its season opener at the Shannons SpeedSeries’ Race Phillip Island.
Race Phillip Island will be Peroni’s first ever circuit race in Australia, with the Tasmanian to join Mark Rosser in the Team BRM-run Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2.
Boasting an impressive record both in open wheelers and GT cars, which started out with a decent run in the competitive Italian F4 Championship in 2016, before dominating the V de V Challenge Monoplac in 2016, where he won 14 races.
Buy tickets for Race Phillip Island at motorsporttickets.com.au.
Peroni then moved to highly respected Formula Renault Eurocup for the next two seasons, with a highlight being a victory on the famous streets of Monaco in 2018, before upgrading to the FIA Formula 3 Championship, where he competed alongside fellow Australians Oscar Piastri, Jack Doohan and Calan Williams.
The Tasmanian then spent the next few years racing in Indy Lights, the European Le Mans Series, and the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, which gave him plenty of experience ahead of this year’s homecoming.
“I’m really excited to be racing at Phillip Island,” Peroni said.
“This opportunity kind of came out of the blue. Everyone in Europe needs big money for multiple years and it’s so hard to get into, so we tried our luck in Australia and spoke to a few people. We got onto Team BRM and Mark Rosser, but it’s really come out of nowhere.
“It’s crazy, I’ve been circuit racing since 2015 and I’ve never raced in Australia or any tracks, so it’s a whole new challenge for me. It’s good because I get to be home with my family in Tasmania, which is a big plus for me after being on my own on the other side of the world for the last nine years.
“The Audi is really good. It’s got a few handling traits similar to a single-seater and is something I couldn’t do in the previous GT cars I’ve driven. I felt good with the team straight away and I knew my engineer Marcus Koch from my days in Formula Renault Eurocup.”
As for Rosser, he returns to the series after a stint in S5000 and was looking forward to racing with Alex.
“It’s very exciting to have Alex with me,” said Rosser.
“It was a chance meeting with him. We were both at this year’s Australian Grand Prix, we had a chat and put it all together pretty quick.
“We did a test recently and now I’m looking forward to getting on track with him.
“The test went well. Our pace was good. We were both giving similar feedback and happy with where the car is at and confident that we’ll put on a good show.
“I love GT cars. They are the coolest cars. They sound amazing and they look amazing. This category is made for people like me who start their racing career later in life and can jump in and be competitive.”
The Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia join a bumper category list at the third Shannons SpeedSeries event for the year, and will have two one-hour races over the course of its opening weekend, with Sunday’s race to be preceded by a free grid walk for fans.
Buy tickets for Race Phillip Island.
Race Phillip Island takes place at the famous Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on 12-14 April.
