Jack Perkins has secured a seat with Garry Rogers Motorsport for the 2012 V8 Supercars endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst.
The 25-year-old joins Greg Ritter as the team’s second endurance driver, set to team up with either Alexandre Premat or Michael Caruso in the #33 and #34 Fujitsu Commodores.
GRM has not decided which regular driver Ritter and Perkins will be teamed up with.
Team owner Rogers says that Perkins will be a great fit for his team.
“He’s got a pleasant manner, he’s a happy-go-lucky guy and he can also drive, and that’s what we need,” Rogers told Speedcafe.com.
“He’s an energetic type, he has a good work ethic and, certainly, his dad wasn’t a lazy bastard! He was never afraid to do some work and I think some of that has rubbed off on Jack. I’m looking forward to him being part of our team.”
Perkins has competed in every V8 Supercars endurance season since 2006. His best result in the two-driver races came at Phillip Island in 2010, finishing fifth with Tim Slade in the Lucky 7 Ford Falcon.
His best Bathurst 1000 result came with Russell Ingall in the Supercheap Auto Commodore last year, finishing eighth.
Since making his V8 Supercars debut in 2006, Perkins has also contested a number of Development Series, finishing second overall behind Andrew Thompson last year.
Perkins is delighted to have secured a ride with GRM for Sandown and Bathurst this year.
“It’s awesome to have an enduro seat locked away with one of the top teams in the game,” Perkins told Speedcafe.com.
“I’m stoked and I can’t thank Garry enough for the opportunity. I’m looking forward to being part of the team.
“The Fujitsu team is always competitive come enduro time. Greg Ritter nearly won at Bathurst with an alternate strategy (2007), and Lee Holdsworth was very competitive there in 2010.
“They have some really good people down there, the whole team is strong, and I’m looking forward to working with all three drivers and the whole team. It’s a fantastic opportunity for me to be involved with a top team.”
Perkins is likely to get his first drive of a GRM Commodore during the team’s next test after the Phillip Island V8 event. Perkins will also test with the team in the four enduro test sessions at Hidden Valley, Townsville, Queensland Raceway and Winton.
Rogers says that a decision on ‘who partners who’ will be made soon after the first few test days.
“Jack will do all the test days that we do, plus the enduro co-driver sessions at the four race tracks,” Rogers confirmed.
“We haven’t made a decision yet on who will drive with who, but we’ll try and work on that and make a decision sooner rather than later.
“Who is going with who is something that we generally wouldn’t rush, but with the way the testing goes at Friday race meetings, that will give us a chance to get seat sizes and stuff organised earlier than we have previously.”
