Indigenous team moves into new Queensland Raceway home

Australia’s first all-indigenous team, Racing Together, has a new base at Queensland Raceway.

“Tony Quinn has been an amazing supporter of Racing Together and thanks to his generosity, we have been able to move into larger facilities than where we were previously,” said Racing Together Director and Chairman, Garry Connelly.

“Having a dedicated space to be able to run Racing Together will enable us to take the program to the next level and provide an environment for our inductees that fully represents a race team working environment.”

Following its formation in late 2020 by Garry Connelly – a former Rally Australia boss and FIA World Motorsport Council member – and his wife Monique, Racing Together facilitates and encourages the involvement of First Nations in motorsport activities, from roles including mechanical, engineering and driving roles.

The team’s goal is to empower young First Nations people seeking a career in motorsport and its broader support industries.

“When we launched in 2020, there was virtually no indigenous participation in motorsport, so we’re proud we’ve been able to encourage first nations Australians to become involved in the sport, and four of the inductees from our original intake have already found employment within the sport,” said Connelly.

The success of the team has seen it simply outgrow its original Norwell Motorplex, with Queensland Raceway providing greater space to prepare its Hyundai Excel race cars, which it campaigns in the Northern Territory and Queensland Excel series with Braedyn Cidoni, Lincoln Taylor and Karlai Warner confirmed as drivers for 2023.

Despite the move from Norwell, Paul Morris will still be involved with Racing Together, the Bathurst winner and former Supercars driver providing a guidance and support.

“A big thank you to Paul Morris and the crew at Norwell for accommodating us since we started a few years ago,” said Connelly.

“Paul will still be helping with driver training and mentoring the program participants.”

In late 2022, Racing Together achieved international recognition when it received the inaugural FIA President’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award from FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.