The Armor All Gold Coast 600 will feature an active Formula One driver – the first time a current F1 star will compete in a V8 Supercars event.
Italian Hispania Racing driver Tonio Liuzzi will drive alongside Tony D’Alberto in the October 21-23 event, suiting up in Wilson Security Racing colours.
Liuzzi, team-mate to Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, is one of seven drivers with Formula One experience announced at today’s official launch, which also celebrated the upcoming 21st birthday of the classic Surfers Paradise event.
It will be a busy few weeks for Liuzzi who will race in the Korean Grand Prix on October 16, fly to the Gold Coast for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 and then head to India for the penultimate round of the F1 World Championship the following weekend.
Liuzzi’s deal with the team will see him compete in his Hispania Racing driving suit.
The other six F1 drivers announced today include Sebastian Bourdais, who will co-drive with either Craig Lowndes or Jamie Whincup at TeamVodafone, former Ferrari driver Mika Salo (Will Davison/FPR), ex-Stewart GP ace Jan Magnussen (Russell Ingall/Supercheap Auto Racing), Austrian Christian Klien (Paul Dumbrell/Bottle-O Racing), journeyman Gianni Morbidelli (Dean Fiore/Triple F Racing) and the versatile Stephane Sarrazin (Jason Bright/Team BOC)
The seven drivers announced today collectively have no less than 350 Formula One Grand Prix starts between them.
The total number of international drivers confirmed comes to 25, with three deals still to be secured.
See below for the full list of drivers and teams for the Armor All Gold Coast 600.
Like last year’s inaugural Gold Coast event, all international drivers will have the opportunity to test their V8 at Queensland Raceway on Wednesday, while some teams will elect to test for half a day on Thursday, as some of the IndyCar drivers will not arrive until midway through the week.
Also confirmed today is that legendary Scottish band Simple Minds will headline the 600 Sounds music festival on the Broadwater Parklands.
Stay tuned to Speedcafe.com today for more news from the event launch.
* Drivers pairings to be confirmed
| Car | Team | V8 Driver | International Driver |
| #1 | Toll Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | TBC |
| #2 | Toll Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Ryan Briscoe |
| #3 | Wilson Security Racing | Tony D’Alberto | Vitantonio Liuzzi |
| #4 | IRWIN Racing | Alex Davison | Marc Lieb |
| #5 | Orrcon Steel FPR | Mark Winterbottom | Will Power |
| #6 | Trading Post FPR | Will Davison | Mika Salo |
| #7 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Richard Westbrook |
| #8 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Stephane Sarrazin |
| #9 | SP Tools Racing | Shane van Gisbergen | Scott Dixon |
| #11 | Pepsi Max Crew Greg Murphy | Greg Murphy | Oliver Gavin |
| #12 | Triple F Racing Dean Fiore | Dean Fiore | Gianni Morbidelli |
| #14 | Jana Living Racing | Jason Bargwanna | TBC |
| #15 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Jorg Bergmeister |
| #16 | Stratco Racing | David Reynolds | Alex Tagliani |
| #17 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Dirk Muller |
| #18 | Jim Beam Racing | James Moffat | Joey Hand |
| #19 | Mother Energy Drink Racing | Jonathon Webb | TBC |
| #21 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Fabrizio Giovanardi |
| #30 | Gulf Western Oils Racing | Warren Luff | Marino Franchitti |
| #33 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Lee Holdsworth | Simon Pagenaud |
| #34 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Augusto Farfus |
| #39 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Jan Magnussen |
| #47 | Lucky7 Racing | Tim Slade | Helio Castroneves |
| #49 | VIP Petfoods Racing | Steve Owen | Boris Said |
| #55 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Paul Dumbrell | Christian Klein |
| #61 | Bundaberg Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Patrick Long |
| #88 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Andy Priaulx |
| #888 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Sebastien Bourdais |
Liuzzi will be in action this weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix. See Speedcafe.com’s Budapest Race Guide below
Click below to view the guide
