Pirtek Enduro Cup regular Dean Canto is set to make his debut in South America’s own version of V8 Supercars, the Brazilian Stock Car Championship.
The unlikely call-up comes courtesy of long-time friend and full-time Stock Car competitor Max Wilson.
Canto and Wilson, who last teamed up while at Briggs Motorsport for the 2002 V8 Supercars endurance races, will share the Brazilian driver’s regular Chevrolet mount for the Interlagos event on March 22.
Strong competition is expected, with the likes of Rubens Barrichello, Bruno Senna, Helio Castroneves and Riccardo Zonta having all raced in the class during recent years.
Like the V8 Supercars, the Brazilian Stock Cars feature replica bodywork passenger car bodywork draped over a common chassis.
The drive adds to Canto’s duties alongside David Reynolds in the V8 Supercars enduros and his Bathurst 12 Hour appointment with Vicious Rumour Racing’s Ferrari 458.
“It’s certainly a bit left-field but as soon as I got the clearance from Rod (The Bottle-O Racing team owner) I jumped at the chance,” Canto told Speedcafe.com of the Interlagos event.
“The cars do a similar pace to a current spec Carrera Cup car. They’ve got plenty of downforce and a 480bhp crate engine so they should be pretty exciting to drive.
“It’s always good for me to do mileage during the year as well. In the last couple of weeks this and the Bathurst 12 Hour drive have come along, which are both positive for me.”
Canto and Wilson have remained friends since the former Williams Formula 1 test driver’s time in Australia.
A then 22-year-old Canto replaced Wilson full-time in the Briggs team when the latter moved to Dick Johnson Racing for 2003.
Wilson then resumed the seat at what had become Triple Eight for 2004, before concluding his V8 Supercars career with Team Dynamik and eventually WPS/WOW Racing.
Reflecting on Wilson’s early time in V8 Supercars, Canto says that the team’s package failed to make the most of the Brazilian’s speed.
“It was a time when Briggs was new and (current Triple Eight engineers) Jeromy Moore and Mark Dutton were there and had some great ideas, but it was not calculated changes back then, there were still a lot of young decisions getting made,” he said.
“The talent was there but to have success everything has to be working for you with the car set-up and strategy and all the rest.
“Max certainly had the raw talent and qualifying was clearly a strength, but he managed to get caught up in a lot of the mid-pack action.
“Triple Eight have obviously kicked on with those basic ingredients, but in those days it was all very raw.”
When he is not racing, Canto operates a stunt driving school called Ultimate Stunt Driving with fellow V8 Supercars part-timer Luke Youlden.
See below for Brazilian Stock Car highlights from year’s Interlagos finale
See below for Speedcafe.com’s video at Canto’s stunt driving school
