Villeneuve and Tagliani to race Down Under

Organizers from Australia’s Gold Coast event have announced an impressive list of drivers for the Gold Cost 600 race including Canada’s Jacques Villeneuve and Alex Tagliani.

There will be 18 international drivers making a guest appearance in this one-off event. For years the V-8 Supercar series, Australia’s version of road racing stock cars, were the supporting event for the Gold Coast Indy Grand Prix. With IndyCar failing to renew a new event has been born.

The organizers for the street race scheduled for October 22 – 24 have scheduled two 300km races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, to be run over the traditional site of the race in V8 Supercars.

All of the international drivers for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 are set to arrive on the Gold Coast on the Sunday before the event and will be involved in a week of activity, including a full-day test at Queensland Raceway on Wednesday, October 20. The international drivers required to complete a minimum of 30% of each of the races.

With Tagliani six current IndyCar drivers will be involved including Brazil’s Helio Castroneves who said “when the concept for the Gold Coast 600 was announced I was disappointed I could not make it, but the withdrawal of Heinz-Harald (Frentzen) has given me another chance to accept an invitation and I am very excited." List of international drivers:

– Sébastien Bourdais – France – Dick Johnson Racing
– David Brabham – Australia – IRWIN Racing
– Ryan Briscoe – Australia – Toll Holden Racing Team
– Helio Castroneves – Brazil – Wilson Security Racing
– Scott Dixon – NZ – Jack Daniel’s Racing
– Dario Franchitti – Scotland – Jim Beam Racing
– Fabrizio Giovanardi – Italy – Brad Jones Racing
– Patrick Long – USA – Fujitsu Racing
– Alain Menu – Switzerland –Brad Jones Racing
– Tiago Monteiro – Portugal – Centaur Racing
– Gianni Morbidelli – Italy – Triple F Racing
– Yvan Muller – France – Paul Morris Motorsport
– Will Power – Australia – Ford Performance Racing
– Andy Priaulx – UK – TeamVodafone
– Scott Pruett – USA – Lucas Dumbrell Racing
– Mika Salo – Finland – Bundaberg Red Racing Team
– Alex Tagliani – Canada – Kelly Racing
– Jacques Villeneuve – Canada – The Bottle-O Racing Team