Frenchman Simon Pagenaud and Brazilian Augusto Farfus will drive the Fujitsu Racing Holden at the Armor All Gold Coast 600

A relationship forged almost 30 years ago has led to the latest international signing for this year’s Armor All Gold Coast 600, October 21-23 2011.

Fujitsu Racing/GRM owner, Garry Rogers, raced a BMW with Bob Jane in Australia in the mid 1980s and during the relationship the pair visited Schnitzer BMW in Germany where they attended a few endurance events, including the Spa 24-hour with team Principal, Charlie Lamm.

It was Lamm who Rogers contacted about some “talent” for this year’s Gold Coast event and the German offered up his Brazilian hot shot Augusto Farfus, who currently drives for him in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

Rogers has also announced that young French star Simon Pagenaud will be joining his Fujitsu Racing stable for the event which will attract a total of 28 international stars.

They will team-up with Rogers’ regular stars Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso, but final pairings will not be announced until race week.

The two join this year’s Indy 500 pole sitter Alex Tagliani, European stars Andy Priaulx, Marc Lieb and Dirk Müller, US gun Joey Hand, colourful US veteran Boris Said and Australian IndyCar stars Will Power and Ryan Briscoe as the confirmed drivers in the Armor All Gold Coast 600 field, with the remaining 18 being announced in coming weeks.

The international stars will team-up with home-grown Australian talent such as Craig Lowndes, Mark Winterbottom, Jamie Whincup, James Courtney, Steve Johnson, Jason Bright, Will Davison, Russell Ingall, Garth Tander and Rick Kelly.

This year’s event will not only include some of the biggest names in world motorsport, but also from the world of entertainment with the event’s Rock and Race format to continue with nightly concerts at the Broadwater Parklands entertainment precinct.

Rogers is regarded as one of the best spotters of young talent in the V8 Supercar pit lane and his lower-profile selected driver last year, Patrick Long, turned out to be the surprise packet of the weekend.

Long is expected to be confirmed with an opposition team in coming weeks.

“It is funny how things work out. I first had a relationship with Schnitzer BMW around 30 years ago and here we are using one of Charlie Lamm’s drivers on the Gold Coast,” said Rogers.

“I think we have two talented young blokes who can do the job, whether they are crash proof is something we will not find out until race weekend.

“I am sure they will fit into our team very well and will be great ambassadors for V8 Supercars back in their own countries.

“A few people questioned our selection of Patrick Long last year and we certainly proved them wrong, I am sure these two guys will also get the job done.”

Pagenaud is no stranger to the Gold Coast haven driven for the Team Australia Champ Car team in 2007. He is now recognised a one of the world’s best young sportscar talents and recently finished second outright at the Le Mans 24-hour.

Both Pagenaud and Farfus will drive a V8 Supercar for the first time at a special test day on the Wednesday of the Gold Coast event at Queensland Raceway.

The announcement of the Frenchman and the Brazilian also adds two more countries to the list that will be represented at this year’s event.

“The Armor All Gold Coast 600 is about showcasing Queensland and Australia to the rest of the world and having varied and talented drivers like Augusto and Simon helps us achieve our goal,” said Queensland Sports Minister Phil Reeves.

“The Bligh Government is a great supporter of V8 Supercars and the Armor All Gold Coast 600 is the crown jewel on the V8 Supercar calendar.”

“Queensland is not only becoming known as the Champions State, but also the Event State, and this motor race is a great example of that.”

Visit Armor All Gold Coast 600 for all event details.