Dean Canto

Dean Canto
Dean Canto
Nationality	Australian
Born	24 September 1980 (age 43); Sydney, New South Wales
Racing licence	FIA Silver
Supercars Championship career
Championships	0
Races	156
Wins	2
Podiums	5
Pole positions	0
2019 position	44th (326 pts)

Dean Justin Canto (born 24 September 1980) is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver. Best noted as a

V8 Supercar development series

in 2000, and the first to become a multiple-champion five years later. Canto has been a regular in the main Supercars Championship for a variety of teams racing both full-time and as a part-time endurance race co-driver.

Racing career

After winning a national and two state titles in

Subaru Impreza WRX raced. He then backed up this performance with a victory in the 1998 Sandown 1 Hour driving a Maserati Ghibli co-driving with Alfredo Costanzo.^[1] Another second in class placing followed in 1999 driving a Ford Mondeo in the Independents class of the Australian Super Touring Championship

.

Later that year, Canto made his

V8 Supercar début in the Shell Championship Series at Oran Park Raceway then went on to drive in the Queensland 500 and Bathurst Classic as well as racing his Mondeo at the Bathurst 1000

.

In 2000, Canto won the inaugural

Jim Richards in the Bathurst 1000.^[1] Canto added another title with his victory in the Young Guns races at the Honda IndyCar Carnival, a one-make event for emerging young drivers in road specification Honda Integras

.

In 2002, Canto became co-driver to

Alopecia Universalis, a very rare medical condition that causes rapid hair loss to the body. Medical advice reassured Canto that the condition would, in no way, affect his overall health. With concerns allayed, Canto then took the time to adjust to the condition, renew his confidence and focus, stronger than ever, on more driving success.^{[citation needed}

]

In the later half of the 2003 season, Canto pulled off a number of strong performances and top 10 finishes and was awarded the VIP Top Dog award, however it was not enough for Canto to keep his full-time drive. Canto was retained as the endurance race co-driver with team under its new ownership identity of

Triple Eight Race Engineering

for the 2004 season.Following this he was extremely disliked by a certain fan whose name is Joe O******o, a highly regarded Sydney based cabinet maker.Joe without reason would always break out into passionate tirades why Canto should have his testicles removed permanently.

The following year

Development Series Ford Falcon. The season proved a success. Canto won five of the seven rounds, qualified on pole position on six of seven occasions, won nine of the ten races where he started on the front row of the grid and won ten races in total. Canto's times were so fast that he could qualify in the Supercars Top 20 (even though the Development cars had a 100 kg lead weight disadvantage). He set new Development Series lap records at Adelaide and Wakefield Park and new qualifying lap records at the Clipsal 500 and Queensland rounds. At the season's conclusion he became the first driver ever to win two Development Series Championships.^[2]

Canto proved once again his worth as an endurance driver teaming up with Glenn Seton at the endurance rounds in a DJR Falcon. The pair finished ninth at Bathurst even with an engine misfire.

Canto's performance in 2005 caught the attention of Garry Rogers Motorsport team Principal Garry Rogers. He asked Canto to fill the vacant seat of the #34 Valvoline Repco Cummins VZ Commodore for the Indy 300 and Tasmanian rounds of the V8 Supercar Championship Series. The car finished well and both team and driver realised that a longer-term relationship would be beneficial for team and driver. Canto signed a multi year deal with GRM as the team's lead driver for their assault on the 2006 V8 Supercar Championship Series.^[3]

The 2006 series saw Canto achieve his first win in the main category, the reverse grid race at

Barbagallo Raceway. After a difficult 2007 season, Canto's GRM contract was cut leaving Canto without a full-time drive in 2008.^[4] Canto returned to the Development series with Howard Racing but just missed out on his third title, finishing second to Steve Owen.^[5]

Since then Canto has competed as an endurance co-driver with

Gold Coast 600 in 2014, both alongside long time teammate, David Reynolds

.

In 2019, Canto competed in his 21st Bathurst 1000 alongside Macauley Jones at Brad Jones Racing.^[6]

Career results

Season	Series	Position	Car	Team
1998	Australian GT Production Car Championship	11th	Subaru Impreza WRX	Edge Motor Sport
1999	Australian Super Touring Championship	7th	Ford Mondeo	Knight Racing
2000	Konica V8 Lites Series	1st	Ford EL Falcon	Dean Canto Racing
2001	Shell Championship Series	32nd	Ford AU Falcon	RPM International Racing Glenn Seton Racing
2002	V8 Supercar Championship Series	44th	Ford AU Falcon	Briggs Motor Sport
2003	V8 Supercar Championship Series	24th	Ford BA Falcon	Team Betta Electrical
2005	V8 Supercar Championship Series	35th	Holden VZ Commodore	Dick Johnson Racing Garry Rogers Motorsport
2005	HPDC V8 Supercar Series	1st	Ford BA Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing
2006	V8 Supercar Championship Series	17th	Holden VZ Commodore	Garry Rogers Motorsport
2007	V8 Supercar Championship Series	16th	Holden VE Commodore	Garry Rogers Motorsport
2008	Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series	2nd	Ford BA Falcon	Howard Racing
2008	V8 Supercar Championship Series	38th	Ford BF Falcon	Ford Performance Racing
2009	V8 Supercar Championship Series	52nd	Ford FG Falcon	Ford Performance Racing
2010	V8 Supercar Championship Series	41st	Ford FG Falcon	Rod Nash Racing
2010	Australian Mini Challenge	13th	Mini John Cooper Works Challenge
2011	International V8 Supercars Championship	71st	Ford FG Falcon	Rod Nash Racing
2011	V8 Utes Racing Series	36th	Holden VE Ute
2012	V8SuperTourer Championship	26th	Ford FG Falcon	International Motorsport
2012	International V8 Supercars Championship	31st	Ford FG Falcon	Rod Nash Racing
2013	International V8 Supercars Championship	35th	Ford FG Falcon	Rod Nash Racing
2014	International V8 Supercars Championship	44th	Ford FG Falcon	Rod Nash Racing
2015	International V8 Supercars Championship	28th	Ford FG X Falcon Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG	Rod Nash Racing Erebus Motorsport
2016	International V8 Supercars Championship	47th	Ford FG X Falcon	Prodrive Racing Australia
2017	Virgin Australia Supercars Championship	43rd	Ford FG X Falcon	Prodrive Racing Australia
2018	Virgin Australia Supercars Championship	38th	Ford FG X Falcon	Tickford Racing
2019	Virgin Australia Supercars Championship	44th	Holden ZB Commodore	Tim Blanchard Racing

Supercars Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Supercars results
Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	Position	Points
2001	Glenn Seton Racing	Ford AU Falcon	PHI R1	PHI R2	ADE R3	ADE R4	EAS R5	EAS R6	HDV R7	HDV R8	HDV R9	CAN R10	CAN R11	CAN R12	BAR R13	BAR R14	BAR R15	CAL R16	CAL R17	CAL R18	ORA R19	ORA R20	QLD R21 8	WIN R22	WIN R23	BAT R24 5	PUK R25	PUK R26	PUK R27	SAN R28	SAN R29	SAN R30											32nd	743
2002	Briggs Motorsport	Ford AU Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	PHI R3	PHI R4	EAS R5	EAS R6	EAS R7	HDV R8	HDV R9	HDV R10	CAN R11	CAN R12	CAN R13	BAR R14	BAR R15	BAR R16	ORA R17	ORA R18	WIN R19	WIN R20	QLD R21 Ret	BAT R22 Ret	SUR R23	SUR R24	PUK R25	PUK R26	PUK R27	SAN R28	SAN R29												45th	86
2003	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Ford BA Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R1	PHI R3	EAS R4	WIN R5	BAR R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	HDV R9	HDV R10	HDV R11	QLD R12	ORA R13	SAN R14	BAT R15	SUR R16	SUR R17	PUK R18	PUK R19	PUK R20	EAS R21	EAS R22																			24th	1001
2004	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Ford BA Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	EAS R3	PUK R4	PUK R5	PUK R6	HDV R7	HDV R8	HDV R9	BAR R10	BAR R11	BAR R12	QLD R13	WIN R14	ORA R15	ORA R16	SAN R17 Ret	BAT R18 Ret	SUR R19	SUR R20	SYM R21	SYM R22	SYM R23	EAS R24	EAS R25	EAS R26															NC	0
2005	Dick Johnson Racing	Ford BA Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	PUK R3	PUK R4	PUK R5	BAR R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	EAS R9	EAS R10	SHA R11	SHA R12	SHA R13	HDV R14	HDV R15	HDV R16	QLD R17	ORA R18	ORA R19	SAN R20 12	BAT R21 9	SUR R22	SUR R23	SUR R24	SYM R25	SYM R26	SYM R27	PHI R28	PHI R29	PHI R30											35th	312
2006	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VZ Commodore	ADE R1	ADE R2	PUK R3	PUK R4	PUK R5	BAR R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	WIN R9	WIN R10	WIN R11	HDV R12	HDV R13	HDV R14	QLD R15	QLD R16	QLD R17	ORA R18	ORA R19	ORA R20	SAN R21	BAT R22	SUR R23	SUR R24	SUR R25	SYM R26	SYM R27	SYM R28	BHR R29	BHR R30	BHR R31	PHI R32	PHI R33	PHI R34							37th	290
2007	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VE Commodore	ADE R1 12	ADE R2 18	BAR R3 27	BAR R4 25	BAR R5 28	PUK R6 25	PUK R7 17	PUK R8 Ret	WIN R9 19	WIN R10 23	WIN R11 14	EAS R12 16	EAS R13 Ret	EAS R14 DNS	HDV R15 9	HDV R16 11	HDV R17 15	QLD R18 16	QLD R19 15	QLD R20 13	ORA R21 18	ORA R22 23	ORA R23 Ret	SAN R24 5	BAT R25 Ret	SUR R26 9	SUR R27 14	SUR R28 Ret	BHR R29 13	BHR R30 7	BHR R31 9	SYM R32 20	SYM R33 12	SYM R34 10	PHI R35 20	PHI R36 16	PHI R37 14				16th	125
2008	Ford Performance Racing	Ford BF Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	EAS R3	EAS R4	EAS R5	HAM R6	HAM R7	HAM R8	BAR R9	BAR R10	BAR R11	SAN R12	SAN R13	SAN R14	HDV R15	HDV R16	HDV R17	QLD R18	QLD R19	QLD R20	WIN R21	WIN R22	WIN R23	PHI R24 24	BAT R25 7	SUR R26	SUR R27	SUR R28	BHR R29	BHR R30	BHR R31	SYM R32	SYM R33	SYM R34	ORA R35	ORA R36	ORA R37				38th	252
2009	Ford Performance Racing	Ford FG Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	HAM R3	HAM R4	WIN R5	WIN R6	SYM R7	SYM R8	HDV R9	HDV R10	TOW R11	TOW R12	SAN R13	SAN R14	QLD R15	QLD R16	PHI Q 8	PHI R17 9	BAT R18 Ret	SUR R19	SUR R20	SUR R21	SUR R22	PHI R23	PHI R24	BAR R25	BAR R26	SYD R27	SYD R28												52nd	152
2010	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG Falcon	YMC R1	YMC R2	BHR R3	BHR R4	ADE R5	ADE R6	HAM R7	HAM R8	QLD R9	QLD R10	WIN R11	WIN R12	HDV R13	HDV R14	TOW R15	TOW R16	PHI R17 7	BAT R18 14	SUR R19	SUR R20	SYM R21	SYM R22	SAN R23	SAN R24	SYD R25	SYD R26															41st	309
2011	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG Falcon	YMC R1	YMC R2	ADE R3	ADE R4	HAM R5	HAM R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	BAR R9	WIN R10	WIN R11	HID R12	HID R13	TOW R14	TOW R15	QLD R16	QLD R17	QLD R18	PHI R19 23	BAT R20 Ret	SUR R21	SUR R22	SYM R23	SYM R24	SAN R25	SAN R26	SYD R27	SYD R28													71st	109
2012	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	SYM R3	SYM R4	HAM R5	HAM R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	BAR R9	PHI R10	PHI R11	HID R12	HID R13	TOW R14	TOW R15	QLD R16	QLD R17	SMP R18	SMP R19	SAN QR 3	SAN R20 6	BAT R21 2	SUR R22	SUR R23	YMC R24	YMC R25	YMC R26	WIN R27	WIN R28	SYD R29	SYD R30										31st	527
2013	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	SYM R3	SYM R4	SYM R5	PUK R6	PUK R7	PUK R8	PUK R9	BAR R10	BAR R11	BAR R12	COA R13	COA R14	COA R15	COA R16	HID R17	HID R18	HID R19	TOW R20	TOW R21	QLD R22	QLD R23	QLD R24	WIN R25	WIN R26	WIN R27	SAN R28 17	BAT R29 9	SUR R30 8	SUR R31 1	PHI R32	PHI R33	PHI R34	SYD R35	SYD R36					35th	516
2014	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	ADE R3	SYM R4	SYM R5	SYM R6	WIN R7	WIN R8	WIN R9	PUK R10	PUK R11	PUK R12	PUK R13	BAR R14	BAR R15	BAR R16	HID R17	HID R18	HID R19	TOW R20	TOW R21	TOW R22	QLD R23	QLD R24	QLD R25	SMP R26	SMP R27	SMP R28	SAN Q 8	SAN R29 9	BAT R30 Ret	SUR R31 Ret	SUR R32 6	PHI R33	PHI R34	PHI R35	SYD R36	SYD R37	SYD R38		44th	270
2015	Rod Nash Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	ADE R3	SYM R4	SYM R5	SYM R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	BAR R9	WIN R10	WIN R11	WIN R12	HID R13	HID R14	HID R15	TOW R16	TOW R17	QLD R18	QLD R19	QLD R20	SMP R21	SMP R22	SMP R23	SAN Q 4	SAN R24 5	BAT R25 6	SUR R26 2	SUR R27 9	PUK R28	PUK R29	PUK R30	PHI R31	PHI R32	PHI R33	SYD R34	SYD R35	SYD R36				28th	648
2016	Tickford Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	ADE R3	SYM R4	SYM R5	PHI R6	PHI R7	BAR R8	BAR R9	WIN R10	WIN R11	HID R12	HID R13	TOW R14	TOW R15	QLD R16	QLD R17	SMP R18	SMP R19	SAN Q 24	SAN R20 23	BAT R21 Ret	SUR R22 4	SUR R23 5	PUK R24	PUK R25	PUK R26	PUK R27	SYD R28	SYD R29											47th	303
2017	Tickford Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	SYM R3	SYM R4	PHI R5	PHI R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	WIN R9	WIN R10	HID R11	HID R12	TOW R13	TOW R14	QLD R15	QLD R16	SMP R17	SMP R18	SAN R19 9	BAT R20 Ret	SUR R21 8	SUR R22 5	PUK R23	PUK R24	NEW R25	NEW R26															43rd	369
2018	Tickford Racing	Ford FG X Falcon	ADE R1	ADE R2	MEL R3	MEL R4	MEL R5	MEL R6	SYM R7	SYM R8	PHI R9	PHI R10	BAR R11	BAR R12	WIN R13 PO	WIN R14 PO	HID R15	HID R16	TOW R17	TOW R18	QLD R19 PO	QLD R20 PO	SMP R21	BEN R22	BEN R23	SAN R24 17	BAT R25 12	SUR R26 7	SUR R27 C	PUK R28	PUK R29	NEW R30	NEW R31										38th	342
2019	Tim Blanchard Racing	Holden ZB Commodore	ADE R1	ADE R2	MEL R3	MEL R4	MEL R5	MEL R6	SYM R7 PO	SYM R8 PO	PHI R9	PHI R10	BAR R11	BAR R12	WIN R13	WIN R14	HID R15	HID R16	TOW R17	TOW R18	QLD R19	QLD R20	BEN R21 PO	BEN R22 PO	PUK R23	PUK R24	BAT R25 16	SUR R26 17	SUR R27 15	SAN QR 22	SAN R28 18	NEW R29	NEW R30										44th	326

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Car	Co-driver	Position	Laps
1999	Graphic Skills Racing	Holden Commodore VS	Wayne Wakefield	DNF	46
2000	Dean Canto Racing	Ford Falcon AU	Ian Moncreiff	DNF	56
2001	Glenn Seton Racing	Ford Falcon AU	Jim Richards	5th	161
2002	Briggs Motor Sport	Ford Falcon AU	Max Wilson	DNF	108
2003	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Ford Falcon BA	Matthew White	DNF	147
2004	Triple Eight Race Engineering	Ford Falcon BA	Yvan Muller	DNF	138
2005	Dick Johnson Racing	Ford Falcon BA	Glenn Seton	9th	158
2006	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden Commodore VZ	Lee Holdsworth	17th	129
2007	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden Commodore VE	Lee Holdsworth	DNF	118
2008	Ford Performance Racing	Ford Falcon BF	Luke Youlden	7th	161
2009	Ford Performance Racing	Ford Falcon FG	Luke Youlden	DNF	139
2010	Rod Nash Racing	Ford Falcon FG	Paul Dumbrell	14th	161
2011	Rod Nash Racing	Ford Falcon FG	Paul Dumbrell	DNF	144
2012	Rod Nash Racing	Ford Falcon FG	David Reynolds	2nd	161
2013	Rod Nash Racing	Ford Falcon FG	David Reynolds	9th	161
2014	Rod Nash Racing	Ford Falcon FG	David Reynolds	DNF	117
2015	Rod Nash Racing	Ford Falcon FG X	David Reynolds	6th	161
2016	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford Falcon FG X	Mark Winterbottom	DNF	132
2017	Prodrive Racing Australia	Ford Falcon FG X	Mark Winterbottom	DNF	159
2018	Tickford Racing	Ford Falcon FG X	Mark Winterbottom	12th	161
2019	Tim Blanchard Racing	Holden Commodore ZB	Macauley Jones	16th	160

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "VESRIX Driver Profile: Dean Canto". conrod.com.au.
^ "Fujitsu Series Driver Points: Championship Points 2005". The official website of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010.
^ "Canto confirmed at GRM". Crash. 2 December 2005. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
^ "Canto dumped by GRM". Crash. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
^ "Fujitsu Series Driver Points: Championship Points 2008". The official website of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010.
^ Whitelaw, Anya (7 October 2019). "Canto is hunting for a special 21st celebration at Bathurst". Western Advocate. Retrieved 20 October 2020.

External links

Dean Canto at the V8 Supercars official website
Dean Canto career summary at DriverDB.com
Dean Canto at Speedsport Magazine
Dean Canto driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Sporting positions
Preceded by inaugural	Winner of the Konica V8 Lites Series 2000	Succeeded by Simon Wills
Preceded by Andrew Jones	Winner of the HPDC V8 Supercar Series 2005	Succeeded by Adam Macrow

[VESRIX-1] "VESRIX Driver Profile: Dean Canto". conrod.com.au.

[2] "Fujitsu Series Driver Points: Championship Points 2005". The official website of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010.

[3] "Canto confirmed at GRM". Crash. 2 December 2005. Retrieved 20 October 2020.

[4] "Canto dumped by GRM". Crash. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2020.

[5] "Fujitsu Series Driver Points: Championship Points 2008". The official website of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010.

[6] Whitelaw, Anya (7 October 2019). "Canto is hunting for a special 21st celebration at Bathurst". Western Advocate. Retrieved 20 October 2020.

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