Canto's course back to the main game.

by Matthew Agius

The roller coaster ride of Dean Canto's V8 Supercar career has once again reached a high point, with the unsurprising signing by Garry Rogers Motorsport of the 2005 HPDC V8 Supercar Champion.

Canto won his first V8 Lites Series championship back in 2000 - the first winner of the newly devised championship. It was that championship victory that allowed Canto to contest selected rounds of the 2001 Shell Championship Series in a privately entered Holden Commodore and also drive with legendary racing icon Jim Richards in a Ford Tickford Racing AU Falcon in the enduros.

In 2002, Briggs Motorsport contracted Canto to drive in the enduros, before deciding to sign Dean Canto as a full time driver for the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship. Canto drove the #66 Team Betta Electrical Falcon as teammate to double World Touring Car Champion Paul Radisich, but soon experienced one of the low points of his V8 career.

During his first full season in the premier class, Canto was diagnosed with an autoimmune deficiency called Alopecia Universalis, one that causes loss of all body hair, but fortunately would not damage his overall health.

Triple Eight Race Engineering kept the services of Canto for the 2004 enduros, before Dick Johnson Racing moved to sign him for a HPDC Series drive in 2005. Canto went on to win the HPDC 'Development' Series at Phillip Island recently, having completed two earlier drives for Garry Rogers Motorsport at Surfers Paradis and Symmons Plains.

The opportunity to drive once again in the top level of Australian V8 Supercar racing was one which Dean Canto could not refuse, but the newly-crowned HPDC V8 Champion knows the challenges he will face in 2006.

"Having a chance to drive in a couple of races this year with GRM was a great opportunity and being able to join them on a full-time basis for 2006 is the best news I've had in a while," he said.

"I was able to prove in the Development Series this year that I'm worthy of a seat in the main series - now we have to work hard to get some good results next year. The level of racing has gone up unbelievably in the time since I last drove in the championship as a full-time driver."

Team owner Garry Rogers welcomed Canto to his Glen Waverly squad, and also stated that the identity of the team's second driver is yet to be revealed.

"He's clearly shown he's fast and skilful enough to be competitive," said Rogers. "Dean is a hard-working young bloke who will fit in well with GRM. He showed plenty of maturity in his two drives with us this year and adapts well.

"The second seat in our team is still under review. There's a number of drivers under consideration and we're working through our options."