Fraser Partners Hackett in Triple Eight Mercedes

Supercars racer Declan Fraser will contest a full season in Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS, joining Peter Hackett at Triple Eight Race Engineering.

The duo will team up for an assault on the Pro-Am class of the series, which begins with next month’s opener at Phillip Island, driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Fraser is well known to Triple Eight from his title-winning campaign in the second-tier Super2 series in 2022, and last year he stepped up to Supercars with Tickford Racing, finishing 24th overall with a best finish of 13th.

This year he has moved into an endurance-only role for Brad Jones Racing, which he will combine with his new Fanatec GT Australia drive.

“It’s cool to team up again with Triple Eight,” said Fraser. “I won the Super2 title with them, coming back into a professional class, I’m really excited to get underway.

“I have never raced a GT3 car. The only time I have raced this style of car was a one-off race at Sandown in GT4, but we have a test day at Queensland Raceway beforehand, plus plenty of practice miles at Phillip Island leading into the event.

“Going to Phillip Island is going to give me the best grasp on how the cars react, trusting the aerodynamics, trusting the tire. A Supercar has a fair bit of aero, but a GT3 car has even more, so I will need to learn as I go.

“Triple Eight has such a plethora of information and data with these cars, and Peter Hackett has raced them so many times. I’m really going to lean on his experience to understand how the cars work.

“We’ve assembled an amazing combination for this entry – drivers, team and car. Pete has done so much, and so has the team. I’m really confident that we are going to have a good result.”

Hackett was the Australian GT champion back in 2017, when he shared a Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Dominic Storey.

While he has made some one-off outings in recent years, this year will mark his first full season in the series since 2019.

“I’m honored to be part of Triple Eight again,” Hackett said. “I know how much they want to win and I’m keen to be part of its assault on the title.

“We know that Declan is fast. Anyone who drives a race car as well as he does can get the job done in GT cars. I’m looking forward to helping him out as he gets used to the class, but I’m under no illusions that he is the Gold-rated driver and I’m the Bronze. My job is to bring the car home safe for him.

“It’s really cool that guys like Declan want to be in GT World Challenge too. It says a lot for the championship as it moves forward.”