Gardner gets Aston Martin GT chance

Reigning Radical Cup Australia Champion Alex Gardner has been given his next big opportunity behind the wheel of Volante Rosso Motorsport’s Aston Martin.

Volante Rosso Motorsport is bringing Aston Martin to the GT World Challenge Australia at the next round at Queensland Raceway having acquired a Vantage that had competed in IMSA.

Spearheading the assault will be young gun Gardner, who will make a racing return since his Radical Cup title alongside Ben Porter.

He won the championship aged just 16 as a rookie and dreams of racing at Le Mans, so competing in the GT World Challenge will be a major moment in his career.

Helping the teenager make the step up will be co-driver Porter, who is a more experienced campaigner.

The Aston Martin Vantage that will race at QR.

Porter returns to Australia after competing in the inaugural GT World Challenge Australia with Andrew Macpherson.

Both drivers have continued their relationship by driving together in GT Asia in the Am class.

Gardner has had a taste of the Aston Martin Vantage by giving it a shakedown at Sydney Motorsport Park on Friday.

The youngster is excited to make the step up.

“The step is quite large from a Radical to a GT3,” said Gardner.

“It’s a big progression and jump, but the team is confident that I’ll be able to do it. It’s really exciting as well to do it at such a young age, these cars are what people strive to drive in their career and to do it so early is a great opportunity that I’m really grateful for.

“The car looks cool. It’s absolutely awesome to be able to drive an Aston Martin and I’m really thrilled to be doing so.

“As a race driver you want to go out there and win, but for me this is a big step. I just need to make sure that I jump in the car, learn everything first and take it easy, a similar approach to what I took with the Radical last year at Round 1. As myself and the team get more comfortable with the Aston Martin we’ll start pushing.

Ben Porter will bring some experience to the team.

“I’ve got no real expectations from my side on results, I’m just looking forward to getting o9n track and seeing how it goes.

“I’m really looking forward to working with Ben.He’s very experienced, which is good to have alongside me and I can learn off him as well as the rest of the team.”

Porter has plenty of experience of racing Aston Martins.

“I’m pretty excited about the program to be honest,” said Porter.

“I’d spoken to various teams earlier in the year, but unfortunately my calendar conflicted with the Australian events.

“To get the call up to run the Aston Martin is super cool. It’s a car that has always been fast overseas where I usually run and I’m excited to get behind the wheel of it here in Australia.

“I’ve had a chance to look at an Aston Martin plenty of times. The Aston Martin appears very strong and this generation of Vantage I was running against it last year where it was a serious title contender.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good package.”

The Aston Martin will race in the GT World Challenge Australia for the first time on August 2-4.

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