Recently crowned New Zealand Toyota GR86 champion Hugo Allan will make his Monochrome GT4 Australia debut at Round 2 in Sydney courtesy of the Tony Quinn Foundation.
The 20-year-old, whose birthday will be celebrated prior to his maiden appearance at Sydney Motorsport Park is set to join Tony Quinn in the Game Over-supported Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 as reward for his recent title success.
“It’s not my first time racing in Australia, but this time it feels like it has more purpose as there is a genuine pathway for drivers like me that don’t have a lot of funds to go further,” said Allan.
“I’m just super excited and thankful to Quinny for giving me the opportunity to do this based of my performances in the Toyota 86 Series in New Zealand. With Quinny helping us out there’s potential for more GT4 drives.”
It won’t be Allan’s first trip to Australia to compete either, having built a friendship with rising star Max Geoghegan through sim racing and being invited to share a Hyundai Excel.
Through his Rookie of the Year success in the New Zealand Toyota GR86 Championship, Allan won a drive in the Australian series at Bathurst to finish a best of eighth in the 2022 final.
The Tony Quinn Foundation’s goal is to support young New Zealanders with talent and determination to make it on the world stage, with Allan the latest in a long line of individuals to have been supported by the initiative, will includes Callum Hedge, Liam Sceats and Jackson Rooney, while Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson is one of its ambassadors.
Preparations for his Monochrome GT4 Australia debut have been a whirlwind since his prize was announced at the final round of the New Zealand GR86 Championship at Taupo, which included Allan recent testing a Toyota Supra Evo2 successfully.
Allan is excited for the challenge of racing against a Silver-Am Cup field including current or previous Supercars drivers Cameron Crick, Aaron Seton and Lochie Dalton.
Allan is poised to share the co-drive alongside Quinn with New Zealand GR86 Championship Rookie of the Year Chris White.
“I feel really ready for it,” said Allan. “I’m just excited and I feel like I’ve got the ability to put on a great show, plus a solid performance. I’ll just work with Quinny and the team to try to get the Supra quick, which it will be, while I’ve also completed work in the sim.”
Monochrome GT4 Australia action in Sydney begins with practice and pre-qualifying at 40-minutes each. The regular two-segment 15-minute qualifying occurs ahead of two one-hour races to be held on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
Round 2 of the Monochrome GT4 Australia season at Sydney Motorsport Park forms a strong line-up of categories at the Shannons SpeedSeries on May 2-4.
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