The GT racing championship is ready for major change as Perth based Arise Racing brings Ferrari factory backing to the category for the very first time in Australia because it unveils its latest team for the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia (GTWCA).
Backed by Perth billionaire Laurence Escalante (Virtual Gaming World’s founder and CEO), the Arise Racing GT team will race two Ferrari 296 GT3 cars with drivers set to be announced next month.
Given Escalante’s association with Ferrari extends to being certainly one of the brand’s best customers locally and all of the approach to the highest, together with his sponsorship of the Ferrari Formula 1 team (via VGW,) the factory backing for the GT3 category is a deeper relationship that extends to greater than just race cars, with the team set to develop into the exclusive distributor of Ferrari GT parts in Australia in addition to facilitating the sale of Ferrari GT race cars to Australian customers.
Arise Racing already races in quite a few other categories but its expansion into GT3 will likely be the primary for the group and first entry from Western Australia.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Jordan Oon, Arise Racing GT’s team principal. “The GTWCA is a growing championship with a variety of upside in Australia, and to compete within the Ferrari 296 GT3 with a backer like LEE gives us an ideal platform to perform and hopefully Arise Racing delivers some strong leads to 2024.”
Mr Escalante added: “having admired GT racing from afar, it’s an actual thrill and unique opportunity to be launching a brand new team out of my home base of Perth racing Ferraris. Identical to in business, motor racing – and all elite sports for that matter – is extremely competitive, performance driven and requires teamwork, which is a brilliant exciting challenge to be a component of with this team. I can’t wait to see what the team and our partners can achieve.”
The GT racing championship which can air on 7 Plus in 2024, is a Pro-am competition featuring high- performance sports cars from leading luxury manufacturers resembling Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
The category is jointly managed by SRO Motorsports Group and Australian Racing Group, and is certainly one of just 4 official GT World Challenges globally alongside Europe, America and Asia. Brands competing in Australia rating points towards the worldwide GTWC manufacturers’ championship.
Seven West Media (owner of 7Plus) and Laurence Escalante are investors in CarExpert.com.au
This Article First Appeared At www.carexpert.com.au
