Steve Owen with his VIP Petfoods Commodore and some furry friends.
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By Briar Gunther 3:24 PM Tue 21 December, 2010
Source: BigPond Sport
Steve Owen has been announced as the driver for the VIP Petfoods-backed Paul Morris Motorsports Commodore for the 2011 V8 Supercar Championship Series.
It was a case of Christmas arriving early for the Fujitsu Series Champion as the VIP Petfoods Commodore was revealed at the company's Yatala headquarters today (Tuesday).
"This is my biggest opportunity to forge a career at the top level so I'm going to grasp it with both hands and give it a damn good shake," Owen said.
"They have good equipment and good people so I'm really looking forward to working with them.
"I can't thank Paul Morris, Tony Quinn and the people at VIP Petfoods enough for allowing me this opportunity."
Owen was Jamie Whincup's co-driver in the TeamVodafone Commodore at this year's enduros.
Together they finished second behind the other TeamVodafone car of Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife and they won a race at the Armor All Gold Coast 600.
VIP Petfoods Managing Director, Tony Quinn, said the timing was right for his company to return to the top level of Australian motorsport.
"We've known Paul for a long time; he's a good operator and VIP Petfoods are very proud to be sponsoring one of his cars," Quinn said.
"Our aim is to build and strengthen our brand and re-entering V8 Supercars at this point in time makes very good business sense for us and our long term objectives."
Morris said the team looked at a number of drivers to replace Greg Murphy who drove for the team in 2010.
"But having recent experience with a top level team definitely helped Steve's case," he said.
"We expect him to be up front and fighting for race wins when we get stuck into the 2011 season."
Owen's first outing in the VIP Petfoods Commodore will be at the official V8 Supercars pre-season test day at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway on January 29, while the season begins in Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina circuit on February 12 – 14.
