In addition to his co-driving duties with Brad Jones Racing, the 24-year-old Queenslander is this year contesting GT World Challenge Australia with Volante Rosso Motorsport.
Fraser is one of 23 drivers from 14 countries in the academy and stands a chance of receiving financial backing towards a 2026 drive with the British manufacturer.
The program includes a judging panel led by long-time Aston Martin driver Darren Turner, which assesses the performance of the academy drivers on and off track throughout the season.
Fraser joined the Volante Rosso Motorsport Aston Martin team this year alongside Liam Talbot, having driven a Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG in GTWCA in 2024.
“It’s a privilege to be selected as part of AMR’s junior academy. In what is only my second year of GT racing, it is very, very humbling,” Fraser said.
“For me, the benefits will be from learning from the experiences they have. [Team principals] Josh [Hunt] and Chris [Papadopoulos] have put me in contact with a lot of people over in Europe.
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“AMR’s factory drivers are very open when it comes to help learning the cars and even just being involved with the team to develop the dynamic.
“GT racing is still new to me and I’m just learning as much as possible in that aspect as well.
“I want to keep my bum in a seat as much as possible and I’m hoping something can come of this.
“The biggest thing for me is to just keep the race mileage up and to be part of the program, it can only lead to bigger and better things.
“I’m hoping that’s what happens and I can be in a race car full-time.”
Fraser said the team will “receive a bit more help and direction from the squad in the UK” as part of the arrangement.
The team tested at Queensland Raceway today ahead of the upcoming GTWCA round at the Ipswich venue on May 30-June 1.
Volante Rosso team principal Papadopoulos praised the program, having run academy driver Matteo Villagomez and graduate Jamie Day at the Bathurst 12 Hour in February.
“When we were appointed as an Official Partner to Aston Martin Racing, we knew the Driver Academy would have great potential, but to so quickly bring in international talent for the Bathurst 12 Hour, and now for them to pick Declan up to help fulfil his potential, it goes to show the value of such a program to everyone involved,” Papadopoulos said.
“Declan has acclimated really well with the team after a relatively late call up. He’s shown his capability in Super2, and we could see right away that here was a young Aussie that deserved a shot at the big time.
“He validated that call straight away, outperforming other factory drivers at our first race with nothing more than a half day shakedown under his belt.
“We aim to win every time we go out, and so does Declan, but this news will make it extra gratifying to score the results that we know we can achieve together.”
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