Volante Rosso Adds Second McLaren, Skips Hidden Valley

Volante Rosso Motorsport has announced the acquisition of a second McLaren 720S GT3 Evo for its GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS campaign.

The Sydney-based team entered into a partnership with McLaren at the beginning of the season, fielding a solo 720S to be shared by team owner Josh Hunt and Geoff Emery along with its Trophy class-entered Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Now it has revealed it has purchased the McLaren that finished second in the 2020 running of the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour in the hands of 59Racing, and which has since raced in New Zealand, which will now be brought to Evo spec.

However, the team also revealed that it will not be present for the upcoming round of the series at Hidden Valley Raceway, near Darwin, later this month, with the focus now on preparing for the following round at Sydney Motorsport Park in September.

Hunt, who also serves as team director, commented: “We are really pleased to expand our McLaren offering for GT racing here in Australia.

“This new car that we have secured is incredible. It is in unbelievable condition and had every option box checked from the factory. We are very confident that it’s not only going to be fast straight out of the box, but it will also help having a second car when it comes to track time, set-up optimisation and even spare parts spread.

“McLaren has been unbelievably helpful and supportive of our program. We really believe in the brand and recent testing has unlocked some super performance we can take into the next events. We’re on a great trajectory.

“It’s disappointing that we won’t be able to get to Hidden Valley for the next round, but it just hasn’t worked out for us this year in terms of what our drivers could commit to.

“It does give us the chance, though, to focus on perfecting our plans for Sydney, and if the right programs can be put together, then we might be there with both McLarens and the Aston Martin.”

Emery and Hunt have scored a best finish of sixth so far this year in the opener at Phillip Island, while Alex Stibbs and Lee Gardner picked up a Trophy class win on the same weekend at the wheel of Volante Rosso’s Aston Martin.