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Harrolds Racing teams with Volante Rosso for GTWC campaign
The Harrolds Racing Team has partnered with Volante Rosso Racing to engineer its campaign in the 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS.
Founded by Harrolds Managing Director, Ross Poulakis, Harrolds Racing Team was launched this year to provide opportunities for clientele and to expand a personal passion for motorsport.
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Volante Rosso Racing, based in Sydney, is operated by experienced former Formula One engineer, Chris Papadopoulos and racer Josh Hunt. The team has already enjoyed success in GT, Radical Cup and Porsche Carrera Cup competition.
Together, the Harrolds Volante Rosso Racing will pair to field Mercedes-AMG GT3 and GT4 entries in the 2022 GT World Challenge Australia championship, with the partnership commencing this weekend at Queensland Raceway, near Ipswich.
Ross Poulakis and Champion GT racer Peter Hackett, Mercedes-AMG’s chief driving instructor in Australia, will join forces to race a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in a pair of one-hour endurance races.
Queensland Raceway marks the second round for the team, having made their debut at Phillip Island earlier this year, Poulakis and Sam Brabham winning the GT4 class at the iconic Victorian circuit on their debut.
While initially fielding a single AMG GT3 Evo entry this weekend, the team will expand to a pair of cars for subsequent rounds this year with the Mercedes-AMG GT4 entry set to return.
The team is an official Mercedes-AMG Customer Sports affiliated outfit.
Practice gets underway today (Friday) at Queensland Raceway ahead of qualifying and Race 1 on Saturday, and the second race on Sunday afternoon. Both races will be broadcast live on Stan Sports.
QUOTES
ROSS POULAKIS
“The Harrolds Racing Team came from the idea of us having a lot of fun driving on the track and having a passion for motorsport. It’s such a rich opportunity to align the Harrolds brand with a new luxury category. As a little kid, I recall sitting in my dad’s Mercedes-Benz and pretending to drive it. My interest stemmed from this memory,” says Ross.
“Motorsport was an untapped area that we hadn’t been involved in before as a business, but I saw a lot of our clientele participating in and loving it. It was then we decided to create our own motorsport team and join in on the action, but from behind the wheel.”
“The business sees great alignment with Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing. Those who watch and attend the GTWC race days have high interests in premium motor vehicles and are assumed to live a luxury lifestyle. We’re endeavouring to bring luxury experiences to motorsport, in a way that hasn’t been done before.
“The relationship that we have with Peter (Hackett) has been instrumental in paving the way for Harrolds and Mercedes-AMG to develop and grow together.”
PETER HACKETT
“It’s great to be back. It’s exciting to be working with new, young and enthusiastic drivers and to be part of this program and to continue a more than decade long relationship with AMG Customer Racing.
“I’ve worked with Ross for a number of years; he’s extraordinarily talented and my role is to impart my knowledge, assist him on the journey and make faster cars and help him understand the racing world we live in.
“You wouldn’t find me in with another brand – there’s nothing other than a Mercedes-AMG for me! I feel like part of their Motorsport family globally and it’s great to be working with some close friends after a few years out of the seat.
“It feels like putting the band back together with Chris Papadopoulos and Josh Hunt from Volante Rosso and Drew Barrett from AMG.
“I’m privileged to represent a luxury brand like Harrolds, the synergies between AMG Customer Racing and Harrolds are very strong. Feels like home already.”
ABOUT HARROLDS
In its remarkable 37-year journey and counting, Harrolds has blossomed from a 90-square-metre space into a Business of Fashion-recognised Top 30 Global Menswear Retail Innovator, spanning three stores across Australia. To this very day, Harrolds remains a family-run enterprise, with Managing Directors Mary and Ross Poulakis at the helm.
Harrolds is the proud exclusive Australian retailer of worldwide icons, from Tom Ford to Amina Muaddi, Thom Browne and more. Combining a unique range of tailoring and contemporary luxury wear, Harrolds holds some of the most sought-after seasonal collections, year on year.
ABOUT VOLANTE ROSSO
Volante Rosso was established in 2016 to bring the highest level of service to the racing & sports car market in Australia. Our team is led by Chris Papadopoulos, an Engineer with a decade of Formula 1 experience and 5 constructors world championship victories as testament to his motorsport credentials. The workshop includes technicians with a wealth of experience and success in Australian and Asian TC, GT, ALMS and Radical Cup racing along with decades of Ferrari and elite road car servicing.
We provide the very best care for your supercar or race car for road or track. We offer services including trackside engineering guidance; set-up advice; engineered modifications for performance and reliability; trackside support services; motorsport driver coaching; car storage; chassis repairs; body repairs; paint and interior trimming.