Kiwi star to race downunder for Kelly team in all-star Surfers Paradise event
One of New Zealand's most successful motorsport exports is returning to the Southern Hemisphere to race.
Two-time IndyCar Racing League winner and Indianapolis 500 champion Scott Dixon is turning his hand to V8 Supercars later this year.
He'll be joining the Kelly Racing Jack Daniel's team for the endurance race at the revamped Armor All Gold Coast 600 on the streets of Surfers Paradise in Queensland, Australia, October 22-24 this year.
Instead of his red Target Chip Ganassi race suit, Dixon will be pulling on a little black number, to join Rick and Todd Kelly's in the Holden for the Gold Coast event, which for the first time will be a V8 Supercar endurance event requiring two drivers per car.
"It'll definitely be different. I think the last time I drove one of those was when I did the HRT test in 1997 or 98," Dixon said from London.
"I'm definitely looking forward to it and it should be fun with the Kelly brothers. I'm not sure which one I'll be driving with, but it's more than likely Todd."
The Gold Coast race has had a hard ride over the past few years, with the dissolution of Champ Car, not being on the IndyCar series event list and A1GP not even bothering to turn up last year.
But organisers have come up with yet another excellent idea in getting a bunch of high-class drivers to partner local heroes.
Joining Dixon in manhandling the big taxis around the streets of Surfers are a host of other open wheel and tin-top stars.
Among them are Dixon's IRL team-mate Dario Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe, and Will Power, former F1 drivers Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Salo and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
Those with touring car experience include Yvan Muller, Andy Priaulx and Alain Menu.
Dixon said: "It should be a good mix, with 17 or 18 international drivers. It should be a big event. Although I've been there before, the circuit has changed a bit. I think it's a bit shorter.
"Looking at the mix of people, there are a few who have driven the cars before. You've got the likes of Power and Briscoe, who have done races with HRT and others," said Dixon.
Muller and a few others have spent time in the V8s so will also have more than a rough idea how the cars work.
For those who haven't experienced a Supercar it may come as a bit of a surprise.
These racing cars are among the last to use a live rear axle and all the international drivers will be more familiar with independent rear suspension.
It should make for good racing.
The Gold Coast event is one Dixon rates as a personal favourite and regards as his unofficial home race. The 29-year-old has raced there three times in the past with his best result a second place in 2008 in his No 9 IndyCar.
He also competed in the Honda Young Guns races for up-and-coming Australian and New Zealand drivers in 2000.
Todd Kelly and Dixon were rivals in the 1998 Australian Formula Holden Championship as teenagers, with Dixon taking the title from Kelly before moving to America.
"We started out together in Formula Holden so we go back to nearly the beginning of our careers," said the 2005 Bathurst winner Kelly.
"We were pretty fierce competitors back in those days so it will be interesting to get him back in our team in one of our Jack Daniel's Racing Commodores at Surfers."
DRIVERS AND TEAMS
Sebastien Bourdais, France - Dick Johnson Racing
David Brabham, Australia - Stone Brothers Racing
Ryan Briscoe, Australia - Toll Holden Racing Team
Scott Dixon, NZ - Jack Daniel's Racing
Dario Franchitti, Scotland - Jim Beam Racing
Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Germany - Wilson Security Racing
Fabrizio Giovanardi, Italy - Brad Jones Racing
Patrick Long, US - Fujitsu Racing
Alain Menu, Switzerland -Brad Jones Racing
Tiago Monteiro, Portugal - Centaur Racing
Gianni Morbidelli, Italy - Triple F Racing
Yvan Muller, France - Paul Morris Motorsport
Will Power, Australia - Ford Performance Racing
Andy Priaulx, UK - TeamVodafone
Scott Pruett, USA - Lucas Dumbrell Racing
Mika Salo, Finland - Bundaberg Red Racing Team
Alex Tagliani, Canada - Kelly Racing
Jacques Villeneuve, Canada - The Bottle-O Racing Team
