Think of an Australian having a successful racing career with McLaren on the global stage and the chances are one name will pop into your head immediately. But Oscar Piastri isn’t the British brand’s only Aussie ace making a name for himself around the world.
Garnet Patterson has flown under the radar of most racing fans, but not McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown. He’s hired the South Australian-based Patterson to race for his United Autosports team in a variety of cars and categories around the world.
This weekend he’s competing in the Bathurst 12-hour with Optimum Motorsport, sharing a McLaren 720S GT3 with factory drivers, Briton Ben Barnicoat and German Marvin Kirchhöfer.
It’s a forerunner to his full-season campaign with United Autosports in the European Le Mans Series, where he’ll return for a second season with Michael Birch and Wayne Boyd. The trio only narrowly missed out on a win at the final race of the year.
“We should be strong, we’re trying hard to have a good year,” Patterson tells Torquecafe. “Our goal is to pick up where we finished and have a crack at the championship.”
Patterson has a long history with United Autosport racing in both LMP2 and LMP3 cars with the team in the Asian Le Mans Series and the IMSA Sportscar Championship in the US.
While not part of McLaren’s factory GT driver roster, Patterson is nonetheless well-placed for the next potential step in his career – the Le Mans Hypercar category.
“My goal has always been to get in a hypercar, so I’ll always push to drive one at some point,” he says.
Given McLaren is set to enter the Le Mans Hypercar class in 2027 in the World Endurance Championship program and an IMSA program is confirmed for no later than 2028, a good performance from Patterson this weekend at Bathurst and in the season ahead won’t hurt his chances of getting a shot at the outright class.
Which would create the very unusual (but very cool) scenario of an Australian star in both McLaren’s F1 and Hypercar teams.
But for now, that remains a dream… and speaking of that, what would this rising racing ace have in his Dream Garage?
Daily driver: Audi RS6 Avant
Patterson was torn between two German rockets – the Porsche 911 Turbo S and Audi’s iconic wagon. In the end the added practicality of the Audi wins the battle.
“If I had to have an everyday dream car, that would be it,” he says.
The unmatched combination of performance and practicality makes it the ideal choice for someone who enjoys speed but needs to train hard for his profession, so needs space for push bikes and other equipment.
“You can put your bike in it, it’s comfortable to drive every day and unless you’re into cars you don’t really know what it is,” he adds.
Something special: McLaren F1
One of the perks of his job are regular visits to the McLaren Technical Centre (MTC), headquarters for the British brand’s racing operations. And one of the cars that features on the famed ‘boulevard’ of iconic McLarens is the F1 road car.
But it’s not just any McLaren F1, it’s actually the original press car, the same silver machine featured in much of the brand’s press materials and contemporary reviews when it launched in 1992.
“Every time I go to the MTC I see and I think ‘geez, I want to drive that,’” Patterson admits.
“That thing is so revolutionary it remains so modern. It’s as old as me but it hasn’t dated at all.”
The V12-powered, three-seat supercar is one of the most in-demand cars of that era, as only 106 examples were ever built, so Patterson is keen to experience its now-legendary driving performance, saying: “It would be ace to drive and be cool to experience the central driving position.”
Track toy: 2014 Audi R18 e-tron quattro
What else would an aspiring prototype sports car driver choose but one of the fastest, most technologically advanced prototype sports cars of all-time. While the current LMH/LMDh rules have attracted plenty of manufacturers with the cost-capped regulations, the final iteration of the LMP1 era produced some special machines.
None more impressive than the turbo diesel hybrid powered Audi R18 e-tron quattro.
“Anything normal is just boring, so if I could I’d pick an LMP1,” Patterson explains.
“I’ve always wanted to drive one. I grew up watching guys like Allan McNish racing them, and a few of my teammates have driven them and said how great they are.
“I’d love to drive one, just because it’s close to what I do and because we’ll never get back there because they were so expensive.”
Discussion about this post