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

Supercars A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

driver, Canto was the inaugural winner of the second-tier

V8 Supercar development series The Dunlop Super2 Series (formerly known as Dunlop Series, Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, HPDC V8 Supercars Series, Konica Minolta V8 Supercars Series and Konica V8 Supercars/Lites Series) is an Australian touring car racing competition, specifical ...

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

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

, Canto graduated to the

Australian GT Production Car Championship The Australian GT Production Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title, organised by Procar Australia Pty Ltd, for drivers of Group 3E Series Production Cars. PROCAR had first promoted a national series for production bas ...

and finished the Championship in 11th overall, and second within Class B in which his

Subaru Impreza WRX The is a compact car that has been manufactured by the Japanese automaker Subaru since 1992. It was introduced as a replacement for the Leone, with the predecessor's EA series engines replaced by the new EJ series. It is now in its sixth gene ...

raced. He then backed up this performance with a victory in the 1998 Sandown 1 Hour driving a

Maserati Ghibli Maserati Ghibli is the name of three different cars produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati: the AM115, a V8 grand tourer from 1967 to 1973; the AM336, a V6 twin-turbocharged coupé from 1992 to 1998; and the M157, an executive s ...

co-driving with

Alfredo Costanzo Alfredo Costanzo (born 3 January 1943, in Calabria, Italy) is a retired Italian born Australian racing driver. From 1980 to 1983 Costanzo won four Australian Drivers' Championships in a row, equalling the record set by Bib Stillwell from 1962 t ...

. Another second in class placing followed in 1999 driving a

Ford Mondeo The Ford Mondeo is a large family car manufactured by Ford since 1993. The first Ford model declared as a "world car", the Mondeo was intended to consolidate several Ford model lines worldwide (the European Sierra, the Telstar in Asia and Austra ...

in the Independents class of the

Australian Super Touring Championship The Australian Super Touring Championship (formerly known as the Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship) was a CAMS-sanctioned national motor racing title for Super Touring Cars. History Super Touring was introduced into Australia in 1993 ...

. Later that year, Canto made his

V8 Supercar The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

début in the Shell Championship Series at

Oran Park Raceway Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan south west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from February 1962 until its closure in January 2010. The track was designed and started by George Murray and Jac ...

then went on to drive in the

Queensland 500 The Queensland 500 was a motorsport endurance race held at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. It was best known as a V8 Supercars race held from 1999 to 2002. It was also very famous for The Ford AU Falcon taking two of i ...

and Bathurst Classic as well as racing his Mondeo at the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...

. In 2000, Canto won the inaugural Konica V8 Lites Series driving a

Ford EL Falcon The Ford Falcon (EL) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1996 to 1998. It was the fifth and final iteration of the fifth generation of the Ford Falcon (Australia), Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (EL)—the lux ...

under the banner of Dean Canto Racing. In 2001, Canto drove with Ford Tickford Racing at the

and

. He achieved a ninth placing in the Queensland 500 and fifth with teammate Jim Richards in the

. 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 Integra The , marketed in North America as the Acura Integra, is an automobile produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda from 1985 until 2006, and then since 2021. It succeeded the Quint as a more luxurious and sport-oriented derivative o ...

s. In 2002, Canto became co-driver to

Max Wilson Max Wilson (born August 22, 1972 in Hamburg, West Germany) is a racing driver of Brazilian parentage. Racing career Junior formulae Wilson started his motor racing career in 1985 in go-karts. He moved into single-seaters in 1993, when he was o ...

Briggs Motor Sport Briggs Motor Sport was an Australian motor racing team which has represented Queensland based businessman John Briggs in motor racing. The team has competed in Sports Sedans, Australian GT, Formula Holden, and most notably as a touring car team ...

and in 2003, achieved a full-time drive with the same team. Canto was diagnosed with

Alopecia Universalis __NOTOC__ Alopecia universalis (AU), also known as alopecia areata universalis, is a medical condition involving the loss of all body hair, including eyebrows, eyelashes, chest hair, armpit hair, and pubic hair. It is the most severe form of alope ...

, 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 co-driver with team under its new ownership identity of

Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering, (branded as Red Bull Ampol Racing) is an Australian motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team has been the only Brisbane based V8 Supercar team since its formation, originally operating ...

for the 2004 season. The following year

Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske), is Australia's oldest motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team currently fields the #11 and #17 Ford Mustang GTs for Anton de Pasquale and Will Davison respective ...

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 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. Canto proved once again his worth as an endurance driver teaming up with

Glenn Seton Glenn Seton (born 5 May 1965) is an Australian racing driver. He won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1993 and 1997 while driving for his own team. Although he never won the Bathurst 1000 like his father Barry did in 1965, Glenn star ...

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 Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the te ...

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 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 was ...

. After a difficult 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 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 ...

under its numerous banners from 2008–2018. His time there included a 2nd place at the

in 2012, and a win at the

Gold Coast 600 The Gold Coast 500 (formally known as the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. The event has been a regular part o ...

in 2014, both alongside long time teammate, David Reynolds. In 2019, Canto competed in his 21st Bathurst 1000 alongside

Macauley Jones Macauley Jones (born 8 October 1994) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving a Holden Commodore ZB for Brad Jones Racing. Son of Brad, nephew of Kim and cousin of Andrew, Jones comes from a fam ...

Brad Jones Racing Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team owned by Brad Jones based in Albury. The team competes in the Supercars Championship and the Super2 Series. Recently they have also returned to Australian Formula Ford where Brad and Kim be ...

Career results

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

References

External links

Dean Canto at the V8 Supercars official website

Dean Canto at Driver Database

Profile at Racing Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canto, Dean 1980 births Sportsmen from New South Wales Living people Racing drivers from Sydney Supercars Championship drivers V8SuperTourer drivers Stock Car Brasil drivers Australian Endurance Championship drivers Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers Dick Johnson Racing drivers