Dylan O’Keeffe will make history this weekend when he becomes the first Australian to compete in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup.

 

Having secured a seat with Vukovic Motorsport after a successful test day for the Swiss team in Austria last month, the Garry Rogers Motorsport driver will line up in the international series’ 2020 season opener behind the wheel of a Renault Megane RS TCR car.

 

With the WTCR series attracting some of the best touring car drivers from around the world, O’Keefe was thrilled to get the opportunity to race overseas.

 

“My first race meeting outside Australia was the 2017 Carrera Cup round I did in Malaysia, which was my first podium finish in the category,” O’Keeffe said.

 

“I participated in the Porsche Junior Programme Shootout a couple of times but didn’t have any more chances to race overseas.

 

“For this WTCR drive to have come to fruition is quite incredible, considering the circumstances we’re all facing with COVID-19 and I’m extremely grateful to the team at Vukovic Motorsport for giving me the opportunity to race their car.

 

“While I’m still very much focused on my TCR Australia drive with Garry Rogers Motorsport, the season is suspended until at least October, which has created the window for me to travel overseas and be able to follow the necessary quarantine protocols when I return.

 

“The crew at Vukovic Motorsport have been enjoyable to work with and I’m confident we’ll arrive for the WTCR round with a solid baseline setup.”

 

Vukovic Motorsport owner Milkenko Vukovic was also pleased with the partnership and revealed the team was impressed with the O’Keefe’s efforts during the test day.

 

"We're thrilled to have Dylan in one of our cars for the first round of our WTCR campaign," Vukovic said.

 

"As we expected, Dylan did a fine job in our Renault at the test day and provided us with some valuable feedback - we can't wait to see him racing wheel-to-wheel with the other WTCR drivers."

 

The first round of the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup takes place at Circuit Zolder in Belgium on 12-13 September.