Grant Denyer signs with Ford Rising Stars and Formula Ford Champion gets big chance
Release Date: 13/02/2007

Speed FX Racing's new Ford supported driver development team, Ford Rising Stars Racing (FRSR), today announced that popular Channel Seven personality and V8 Supercar driver, Grant Denyer will join its Fujitsu V8 Supercar team for 2007.

Denyer joins already named Michael Caruso, the duo forming a strong debut FRSR team, with both drivers having achieved a top ten finish in the 2006 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Championship.

2006 saw Caruso finish fourth and Denyer ninth (despite missing a round due to television commitments) and with Jim Morton's well known and respected ability for nurturing on-track talent, FRSR looks set for success in 2007.

“Grant will come on-board as the best known face of the new team and we look forward not only to his input as an experienced driver, but as a solid mentor for Ford Rising Stars Racing's young talent,” Team Manager Jim Morton said today.

“Grant's media experience will be a wonderful asset, and will help to mould our young drivers into professional Ford V8 Supercar drivers – our aim is main game standard”.

“Unfortunately due to television commitments Grant will be unavailable for the first round, the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, but this presents a wonderful opportunity for our rookie and reserve driver Daniel Elliott."

Denyer's absence at Clipsal (1-4 March) will see FRSR's 2007 reserve driver, 21-year-old Elliott, take the wheel for his first V8 Supercar race.

Winner of the 2005 Australian Formula Ford Championship, Elliott is set to learn the V8 Supercar ropes with FRSR this year, his presence immediately demonstrating the intention of the program.

“Just to be offered a contract with the new Ford Rising Stars team was a thrill," Daniel Elliot said.

"I had only expected to get seat time on test days and corporate ride days this year, so when Jim Morton rang and asked if I would like to race at Clipsal it was a shock, but a great surprise”.

"We've discussed our approach for the race, it's going to be a whole new experience for me driving a V8 Supercar, the learning curve will certainly be steep”.

"I can't thank our corporate partners Lawrence & Hanson, Auslec and Summit Fleet Leasing enough for giving me this opportunity.”

Elliott’s chance to race at one of the biggest events on the Fujitsu V8 Supercar calendar highlights the strong relationship Ford has with junior Australian motorsport through its support of the Formula Ford category.

The FRSR initiative under the direction of Morton is set to extend Ford's relationship with Australia's up and coming motorsport talent, forging a clear pathway between support categories and the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

With 25 years of motorsport history behind them, including support for and involvement with Australia's best young kart drivers, Morton and his team are set to play a solid part in cultivating Ford's future motorsport superstars.

The FRSR team, born out of Jim Morton’s Decina Racing, is preparing its 2007 V8's in Sydney, and will run two Ford BA Falcons with Stone Brothers engine programs.

The Ford Rising Stars Racing livery will be revealed at the official team launch at Cronulla Beach on Tuesday 20 February, and the team will hit the track for their first 2007 event at the Clipsal 500, 1-4 March.