Perkins gave blessing for DJR number switch
Dick Johnson Racing sought permission from Larry Perkins before using his famous #11 for the 2021 Supercars season.
Photo by: Dick Johnson Racing
As first reported by Motorsport.com, Anton De Pasquale will run the #11 for his first campaign with DJR.
He'll debut the new number at Sandown this weekend after starting the season with #100 as part of a Pirtek promotion.
Explaining the number switch, DJR boss Ryan Story said De Pasquale floated the idea of running the #11, but was told the team would need permission from the man who made the number famous, Larry Perkins.
Perkins agreed and handed over the number in a special ceremony this morning.
"When Anton joined the team, I asked him what number he would like to run as Will was going to drive the iconic #17," said Story.
"Anton said he'd love to run number 11 because it was such a key part of his success in Europe where he won many races with it. I told him we could only do so with LP's blessing.
"Number 11 is an iconic number in our sport, and to me it will always be Larry's number. Despite it not having been used for the past few seasons, I thought it fit and proper for Dick and myself to reach out to his old sparring partner and one-time teammate, and that's what's led us to today's announcement."
Perkins said he was happy to see the number back on track.
"When I first registered my car in the Australian Touring Car Championship, I chose #11 because it was just straight digits," said Perkins.
"It was cheap and easy to print, and I only had to carry spares of one number which made it simple to replace on the car.
"The number originally didn't mean anything to me really; it was just a number. But it became a part of history, and I'm very pleased to see it continue in Supercars today.
"Anton is a fantastic young talent, so when Dick and Ryan asked me if he and the team could use the number, I was more than happy for them to continue its legacy."
Perkins Engineering continued to use the #11 after Perkins retired from full-time racing at the end of the 2002 season.
It then went to Kelly Racing as part of the absorption of the PE licences in 2009 and was last used by Karl Reindler in 2011.
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