Brazilian veteran Tony Kanaan is the latest IndyCar star to be confirmed for October's Armor All Gold Coast 600 V8 Supercars race.
The 36-year-old, who won the 2004 IndyCar Series, will drive alongside Jason Bargwanna in the Jana Living Racing Commodore at the international co-driver event.
Kanaan currently sits fourth in the 2011 IndyCar Series standings – his 10th consecutive season in the class and his first with Australian Kevin Kalkhoven's KV Racing Technology squad.
The Gold Coast 600 will enable Kanaan to relive his five previous visits to the Surfers Paradise circuit, which came as part of the now defunct Champ Car class.
With only one of the 28 international drivers yet to be confirmed, Queensland Minister for Sport, Phil Reeves, says fans should be looking forward to a fantastic October 21-23 event.
“I think there are a lot of race fans who have fond memories of Tony Kanaan in an open wheel car on the Gold Coast and I am sure he will have a lot of people cheering for him in October,” said Reeves.
“The inclusion of Tony Kanaan in the field adds even further depth to a line-up which is simply world class.
“The Bligh Government is 100% committed to the success of Armor All Gold Coast 600, it reinforces that Queensland is the champions state and the events state.”
“The driver line-up speaks for itself, the entertainment program for the 600 Sounds festival at the Broadwater Parklands is the icing on the cake for what will be a fantastic week on the streets of Surfers Paradise.”
See below for the current driver line-up. Note: Actual driver pairings yet to be confirmed are in italics
Car | Team | V8 Driver | International Driver |
#1 | Toll Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Dan Wheldon |
#2 | Toll Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Ryan Briscoe |
#3 | Wilson Security Racing | Tony D'Alberto | Vitantonio Liuzzi |
#4 | IRWIN Racing | Alex Davison | Marc Lieb |
#5 | Orrcon Steel FPR | Mark Winterbottom | Will Power |
#6 | Trading Post FPR | Will Davison | Mika Salo |
#7 | Jack Daniel's Racing | Todd Kelly | Richard Westbrook |
#8 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Stephane Sarrazin |
#9 | SP Tools Racing | Shane van Gisbergen | Scott Dixon |
#11 | Pepsi Max Crew Greg Murphy | Greg Murphy | Oliver Gavin |
#12 | Triple F Racing Dean Fiore | Dean Fiore | Gianni Morbidelli |
#14 | Jana Living Racing | Jason Bargwanna | Tony Kanaan |
#15 | Jack Daniel's Racing | Rick Kelly | Jorg Bergmeister |
#16 | Stratco Racing | David Reynolds | Alex Tagliani |
#17 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Dirk Muller |
#18 | Jim Beam Racing | James Moffat | Joey Hand |
#19 | Mother Energy Drink Racing | Jonathon Webb | TBC |
#21 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Fabrizio Giovanardi |
#30 | Gulf Western Oils Racing | Warren Luff | Marino Franchitti |
#33 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Lee Holdsworth | Simon Pagenaud |
#34 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Augusto Farfus |
#39 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Jan Magnussen |
#47 | Lucky7 Racing | Tim Slade | Helio Castroneves |
#49 | VIP Petfoods Racing | Steve Owen | Boris Said |
#55 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Paul Dumbrell | Christian Klein |
#61 | Bundaberg Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Patrick Long |
#88 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Andy Priaulx |
#888 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Sebastien Bourdais |