Dean Canto


Dean Justin Canto is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver. Best noted as a Supercars driver, Canto was the inaugural winner of the second-tier 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. No longer racing full-time, Canto now runs a performance driving school. He is currently a co-driver for Tim Blanchard Racing, driving alongside Macauley Jones in the Pirtek Enduro Cup.

Racing career

After winning a national and two state titles in kart racing, Canto graduated to the Australian GT Production Car Championship and finished the Championship in 11th overall, and second within Class B in which his 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. 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 Konica V8 Lites Series driving a Ford EL Falcon under the banner of Dean Canto Racing. In 2001 Canto drove with Ford Tickford Racing at the Queensland 500 and Bathurst 1000. He achieved a ninth placing in the Queensland 500 and fifth with teammate Jim Richards in the Bathurst 1000. 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 Max Wilson at Briggs Motor Sport and in 2003, achieved a full-time drive with the same team. Canto was diagnosed with 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.
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 codriver with team under its new ownership identity of Triple Eight Race Engineering for the 2004 season.
The following year Dick Johnson Racing appointed Canto to drive the Gatorz Racing 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 top 20. 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.
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.
The 2006 series saw Canto achieve his first win in the main category, the reverse grid race at Barbagallo Raceway. After a lacklustre 2007 season Canto's GRM contract was cut leaving Canto without a full-time drive in 2008. Canto returned to the Development series with Howard Racing but just missed out on his third title, finishing second to Steve Owen.
Since then Canto has competed as an endurance co-driver with Ford Performance Racing from 2008–2009 and its satellite team, Rod Nash Racing since 2010. Canto competed full-time in the Australian Mini Challenge before the series folded, sponsored by his own business Stunt Driving School which he runs with fellow part-time V8 Supercar driver, Luke Youlden.

Career results

SeasonSeriesPositionCarTeam
1998Australian GT Production Car Championship11thSubaru Impreza WRXEdge Motor Sport
1999Australian Super Touring Championship7thFord MondeoKnight Racing
2000Konica V8 Lites Series1stFord EL FalconDean Canto Racing
2001Shell Championship Series32ndFord AU FalconRPM International Racing
Glenn Seton Racing
2002V8 Supercar Championship Series44thFord AU FalconBriggs Motor Sport
2003V8 Supercar Championship Series24thFord BA FalconTeam Betta Electrical
2005V8 Supercar Championship Series35thFord BA Falcon
Holden VZ Commodore		Dick Johnson Racing
Garry Rogers Motorsport
2005HPDC V8 Supercar Series1stFord BA FalconDick Johnson Racing
2006V8 Supercar Championship Series17thHolden VZ CommodoreGarry Rogers Motorsport
2007V8 Supercar Championship Series16thHolden VE CommodoreGarry Rogers Motorsport
2008Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series2ndFord BA FalconHoward Racing
2008V8 Supercar Championship Series38thFord BF FalconFord Performance Racing
2009V8 Supercar Championship Series52ndFord FG FalconFord Performance Racing
2010V8 Supercar Championship Series41stFord FG FalconRod Nash Racing
2010Australian Mini Challenge13thMini John Cooper Works Challenge
2011International V8 Supercars Championship71stFord FG FalconRod Nash Racing
2011V8 Utes Racing Series36thHolden VE Ute
2012V8SuperTourer Championship26thFord FG FalconInternational Motorsport
2012International V8 Supercars Championship31stFord FG FalconRod Nash Racing
2013International V8 Supercars Championship35thFord FG FalconRod Nash Racing
2014International V8 Supercars Championship44thFord FG FalconRod Nash Racing
2015International V8 Supercars Championship28thFord FG X Falcon
Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG		Rod Nash Racing
Erebus Motorsport
2016International V8 Supercars Championship47thFord FG X FalconProdrive Racing Australia
2017Virgin Australia Supercars Championship43rdFord FG X FalconProdrive Racing Australia
2018Virgin Australia Supercars Championship38thFord FG X FalconTickford Racing
2019Virgin Australia Supercars Championship44thHolden ZB CommodoreTim Blanchard Racing

Complete Bathurst 1000 results