Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series championship leader Steve Owen racing the car nicknamed ‘Earnhardt’ at the Clipsal 500 earlier this year – coincidentally the same car Earnhardt Jnr is set to drive
NASCAR SUPERSTAR Dale Earnhardt Jnr will make his Australian racing debut in a V8 Supercar at Sydney’s Oran Park this December.
Earnhardt will race a Holden Commodore in V8’s junior feeder category, the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, at Oran Park’s curtain-closing Grand Finale before it is torn down to make way for redevelopment.
Fujitsu V8 series team boss Scott Loadsman confirmed on Monday he will expand his current one-car team to two cars. He has purchased a Commodore from Paul Morris Motorsport, nicknamed ‘Gidget’. With Loadsman’s existing driver, series leader Steve Owen, more likely to use this newer chassis, Earnhardt is set to drive Owen’s current car. Coincidentally, its nickname is ‘Earnhardt’.
Earnhardt Jnr (right) won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Michigan earlier this month, breaking a winless drought of 67 races
“I know that Dale Earnhardt Jnr wanted to drive in the last race and Paul Morris is organising for him to come out,” said Loadsman. “That’s confirmed.
“We’ve already got the car from Morris, we got the sister car to ‘Earnhardt’… we bought ‘Gidget’. So he’s going to drive in the last race out there so he’ll probably drive that [Earnhardt] car.”
Earnhardt first visited Australia at the 2007 V8 Grand Finale at Phillip Island during his end-of-season holiday as a guest of former V8 champ Marcos Ambrose. Morris gave Earnhardt a test in a V8 Supercar ride car at his facility on the Gold Coast, and Earnhardt has since remained in contact with the V8 driver.
The Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series is the nursery for V8 stars of the future, seen here at Oran Park last year
With the final NASCAR Sprint Cup race being held on November 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Earnhardt will be able to fly to Australia in time for Oran Park on December 4-7.
Earnhardt Jnr is a member of the legendary NASCAR family the Earnhardts, and is son of the late NASCAR megastar Dale Earnhardt. NASCAR fans have voted ‘Junior’ their favourite driver for the last five years in a row. He currently races full-time in NASCAR’s top-level Sprint Cup with Hendrick Motorsports and earlier this month recorded his first victory in 76 races at Michigan International Speedway.
NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jnr will head ‘Down Under’ to race a V8 Supercar in Sydney this December
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Filippa Guarna
- edited for web by
Dylan Campbell
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