Ash Walsh will switch to the Australian GT Championship this year after securing a late deal to pilot an Audi R8 GT3 alongside James Koundouris.
The 29-year-old is set to contest the full five round Australian GT Championship in the #44 Audi Customer Racing Australia prepared entry.
Walsh enjoyed his first taste of GT3 racing last year when he piloted a Miedecke Stone Motorsport Aston Martin in the GT Asia Series at Fuji International Speedway.
The Queenslander rejoined the team at the recent Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour where he impressed by qualifying the Vantage GT3 fourth.
Walsh had hoped to stay with the squad for this year's Australian GT campaign before a late change of plans.
After a season competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup, Walsh is eagerly anticipating his chance to impress in Australian GT.
“I had planned to run the year with Miedecke Stone Motorsport and it all fell through at the last moment, and this drive came up which worked out quite well,” Walsh told Speedcafe.com.
“I was looking at not running for a little while.
“I think GT racing is exciting at the moment and the worldwide popularity of GT3 is growing.
“For me doing Australian GT opens up opportunities for other racing.
“We have Supercars in Australia which is well established but if you want to race outside of that then it is difficult to go anywhere other than GT3.”
Walsh is set to drive the #44 R8 GT3 for the first time during a test day at Winton tomorrow, ahead of the season opener at Adelaide's Clipsal 500 from March 2-5.