Darren Hossack (born 1 April 1970) is a multiple-championship winning Australian race car driver.

Early career

A long time kart racing driver, working professionally in the industry for Drew Price Engineering, he stepped into circuit racing in 1992 in state level Formula Ford, and won the Victorian championship in his debut season, a first title for emerging Formula Ford constructor,

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

. Without the funding to progress his career stalled at this point, taking him back to kart racing, picking up the Australian Reed Light Championship in 1994, and also into dirt-track Speedway, running Super Sedans.

Touring Cars

An opportunity opened in 1997 for Hossack, driving the Wynns backed Holden Commodore in the

1997 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1997 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title open to 5.0 Litre Touring Cars''Australian Title Conditions'', 1997 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 7–9 to 7–10 complying with Group 3A''Rac ...

, and impressed in the midfield, snatching several top ten results during the season. For the final round he moved into a Gibson Motor Sport run Commodore, which continued into the endurance season where on his Bathurst debut, he and co-driver Steven Ellery finished in sixth position, the highest placed finish for any rookie in the race. 1998 saw a full-time drive in the Gibson Motor Sport team along with Wynns backed team mate Darren Pate, and Ellery also as team mate in a Holden Young Lions liviered Commodore. Hampered by Yokohama tyres, which were no match for Bridgestone and Dunlop shod teams, it was not a happy season and Hossack was replaced after the

Barbagallo Raceway Wanneroo Raceway, currently known as CARCO.com.au Raceway for naming rights reasons, is a motorsport circuit located in Neerabup, approximately north of Perth in Western Australia. It was built by the WA Sporting Car Club. The circuit wa ...

round by experienced veteran

Tomas Mezera Tomas Mezera (born 5 November 1958 in Czechoslovakia) is a naturalised Australian racing driver. Mezera won the 1988 Bathurst 1000, and for many years was a member of the Holden Racing Team as both a driver and team manager. Mezera's sporting ...

as the team struggled for pace. Hossack returned to the team for the endurance races and paired with Pate, took eighth place at the

Sandown 500 The Sandown 500 (formally known as the Penrite Oil Sandown 500) is an annual endurance motor race which is staged at the Sandown Raceway, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 1964. The event's name, distance – and the category of cars co ...

and seventh at Bathurst. While a full-time V8 Supercar drive did not return, Hossack was a valued endurance co-driver for the next several seasons, driving for Romano Racing in 1999 and returning to Gibson Motor Sport in 2000 with a highlight of ninth position for GMS with David 'Truckie' Parsons at Bathurst in 2000. After a few seasons away from V8 Supercars, Hossack returned in 2003, driving a third

Ford Performance Racing Tickford Racing (formerly known as Prodrive Racing Australia and Ford Performance Racing) is an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team currently campaigns three Ford Mustangs, with their current drive ...

Falcon with Adam Macrow.

Australian Champion

Hossack became involved in John Gourlay's Sports Sedan team, driving a Chevrolet V8 powered

Saab 900 The Saab 900 is a mid-sized automobile which was produced by Saab from 1978 until 1998 in two generations; the first from 1978 to 1993, and the second from 1994 to 1998. The first-generation car was based on the Saab 99 chassis, though with a ...

. He finished runner up to Tony Ricciardello in the 2002

Australian Sports Sedan Championship The National Series for Sports Sedans, formerly the Australian Sports Sedan Championship, is a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of cars complying with Australian Sports Sedan regulations. This class, essentially a silhou ...

, and fourth in 2003 behind Kerry Baily, Dean Randle and Ricciardello, before claiming a hard fought win in the 2004 Tranzam Sports Sedan Series. After placing third in the 2005 series the team scaled down their efforts over the next few years having come to the end of the Saab's racing career (it was sold during the 2006 season to Mark Nelson) and construction began on a new race car. Again Chevrolet V8 powered, the

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made its debut in 2007, and quickly became a race winning car. In an epic finale to the 2008 season, with the pointscore tied heading into the final race Hossack beat 2007 series winner Ricciardello to win the race and the series by three points. The 2007 season saw Hossack begin racing

Superkart Superkart is a form of motorsport road racing that uses karts on long circuits. The most obvious difference between a superkart and most other forms of kart is that they have full aerodynamic bodykits as well as having a longer wheel base than sp ...

s as well, racing the Anderson Maverick owned by Scott Ellis' Safe Evolutions team, which Ellis was using to prove his own engine design, the Safe Racing Engine, which was a modern re-interpretation of the 20-year-old Rotax 256 design. Promising results in the first season lead to his first race wins, first at state level in Victoria, then in front of a national field on the support program of the 2008 Eastern Creek round of the V8 Supercar Championship. Two race wins at the opening round of the Australian Superkart Championship also held at Eastern Creek Raceway set up a points buffer which was whittled away as the final round at

Mallala Motor Sport Park Mallala Motor Sport Park is a bitumen motor racing circuit near the town of Mallala in South Australia, 55 km north of the state capital, Adelaide. Mallala Race Circuit (1961–1971) The Mallala Race Circuit, as it was originally know ...

progressed. With a slender points lead to protect, and title rivals Sam Zavaglia and Gary Pegoraro winning races almost lost the title. After almost stalling on the final race, Hossack raced back through the field, overtaking 25 karts over the eight lap finale to climb into third place on the final lap. With Zavaglia finishing second, it gave the title to Hossack by just three points. Hossack lost both titles in 2009, his rivalry with

Tony Ricciardello Tony Ricciardello, (born 19 March 1979), is a multiple-championship winning Australian race car driver. Son of Sports Sedan racer and team owner Basil Ricciardello, Tony was brought up into the Western Australian racing scene. He eventually rep ...

saw category veteran Des Wall win the Sports Sedan series with a consistent run, and Sam Zavaglia took the Superkart title with a career best season. Hossack was third in Sports Sedans and second in Superkarts. 2010 saw a return to the title claiming his second Australian Championship in Superkarts after win in the final race of the series broke a tie with Warren McIlveen whose previously points leading Superkart limped to the line in third position.

Career results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hossack, Darren 1970 births Australian racing drivers Living people Supercars Championship drivers Australian Touring Car Championship drivers