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V8 Supercars
V8: Alexandre Premat Signs With Garry Rogers Motorsports
Former factory Audi prototype and DTM driver Alexandre Premat has signed on to replaced the departed Lee Holdsworth at Garry Rogers Motorsports.
Paired with Michael Caruso, Premat hopes to pick up right where former GRM driver Lee Holdsworth left off. (Photo: Garry Rogers Motorsports)
Garry Rogers Motorsport is very excited to announce that Frenchman and former Audi DTM driver, Alexandre Premat will fill the driving position at their team for 2012 and beyond.
When asked why such a change of direction for the team, which has previously gone down the route of starting the careers of young inexperienced drivers such as Garth Tander, Jamie Whincup, Jason Bargwanna, Steven Richards and others, Garry explained, “my team has had a lot of success with our young driver program over the years. However today more than ever before the V8 Supercar Category is ultra competitive and you no longer can afford the time and results that come with the inexperienced drivers. You need drivers who have a solid knowledge of the technical attributes of these cars and who are able to drive them very fast every lap. We will be doing something else in terms of encouraging our young driver program, but not at this point in time”.
Premat, 29, is a French National and will be moving with his wife and two young daughters from Paris to live in Melbourne near the GRM headquarters. His racing career has, as with many others commenced in Go-karts at the age of 10. He proved immediately that he had what it takes, winning the French Series Il-de-France also finishing second in 2000 in the 125cc ICC European Championship.
He then moved up to French Formula Campus, the starting point for formula drivers in France. After this Alex joined the French Formula Renault Series in 2001 and won the title the next season. He also raced in the Formula Renault 2000 Euro Cup in 2002.
Alex was moving forward and joined the French Formula 3 Series, winning the Marlboro Masters and the 2004 Macau Grand Prix, starting from third on the grid and beating Robert Kubica and Lucas Di Grassi who finished second and third in a hard fought race in which pole sitter Lewis Hamilton and also Nico Rosberg fell by the wayside. These results earned him a drive in the 2005 GP2 Series at the same time as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. In 2006 he finished third and Hamilton took the series. His next move was into the French Team in the A1 Grand Prix and along with his French team mate Nicolas Lapierre, they won the series for France.
He then, as many others pursued the Formula 1 trail and also tested in Champ Car with Conquest Racing.
Unable to secure a drive in either category Alex switched to Audi in Germany in 2007 for the DTM Touring Car Series. He was there until late 2010 when he was dismissed for running in the New York Marathon when it was considered he should be concentrating on recovering from the monumental accident he had in the October 2010 DTM race at Adria Raceway. During his stint at Audi he also competed in the Le Mans 24 hour race on several occasions.
When asked why he chose Australia to continue his racing career Alex said “I had had some dialogue with Garry Rogers as I knew of their team and was aware there was going to be an opportunity to join them when Lee Holdsworth concluded his contract at the end of last season.
"I had watched a lot of the V8 Supercar races on cable television as it is very popular in Europe, it was an exciting category and I really thought that I would like to become involved. I approached Garry Rogers and after speaking several times I decided to take on the challenge as I believe that Garry has a strong team and that I have the necessary skills to do well. I am very excited about the opportunity and the challenge ahead."
When asked why such a change of direction for the team, which has previously gone down the route of starting the careers of young inexperienced drivers such as Garth Tander, Jamie Whincup, Jason Bargwanna, Steven Richards and others, Garry explained, “my team has had a lot of success with our young driver program over the years. However today more than ever before the V8 Supercar Category is ultra competitive and you no longer can afford the time and results that come with the inexperienced drivers. You need drivers who have a solid knowledge of the technical attributes of these cars and who are able to drive them very fast every lap. We will be doing something else in terms of encouraging our young driver program, but not at this point in time”.
Premat, 29, is a French National and will be moving with his wife and two young daughters from Paris to live in Melbourne near the GRM headquarters. His racing career has, as with many others commenced in Go-karts at the age of 10. He proved immediately that he had what it takes, winning the French Series Il-de-France also finishing second in 2000 in the 125cc ICC European Championship.
He then moved up to French Formula Campus, the starting point for formula drivers in France. After this Alex joined the French Formula Renault Series in 2001 and won the title the next season. He also raced in the Formula Renault 2000 Euro Cup in 2002.
Alex was moving forward and joined the French Formula 3 Series, winning the Marlboro Masters and the 2004 Macau Grand Prix, starting from third on the grid and beating Robert Kubica and Lucas Di Grassi who finished second and third in a hard fought race in which pole sitter Lewis Hamilton and also Nico Rosberg fell by the wayside. These results earned him a drive in the 2005 GP2 Series at the same time as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. In 2006 he finished third and Hamilton took the series. His next move was into the French Team in the A1 Grand Prix and along with his French team mate Nicolas Lapierre, they won the series for France.
He then, as many others pursued the Formula 1 trail and also tested in Champ Car with Conquest Racing.
Unable to secure a drive in either category Alex switched to Audi in Germany in 2007 for the DTM Touring Car Series. He was there until late 2010 when he was dismissed for running in the New York Marathon when it was considered he should be concentrating on recovering from the monumental accident he had in the October 2010 DTM race at Adria Raceway. During his stint at Audi he also competed in the Le Mans 24 hour race on several occasions.
When asked why he chose Australia to continue his racing career Alex said “I had had some dialogue with Garry Rogers as I knew of their team and was aware there was going to be an opportunity to join them when Lee Holdsworth concluded his contract at the end of last season.
"I had watched a lot of the V8 Supercar races on cable television as it is very popular in Europe, it was an exciting category and I really thought that I would like to become involved. I approached Garry Rogers and after speaking several times I decided to take on the challenge as I believe that Garry has a strong team and that I have the necessary skills to do well. I am very excited about the opportunity and the challenge ahead."
Supercars Darwin Australia
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