Renee Gracie raises eyebrows with telling detail in motorsport comeback
After Renee Gracie's surprise ascent to online prominence facilitated her motorsport return, there was only ever going to be one major sponsor.
Renee Gracie was always going to turn heads on her return to the motorsport world, but the 28-year-old has made sure she won't be missed in her Audi R8 LMS for the GT World Challenge Australia series. The former Supercars driver turned to adult platform OnlyFans after bringing her motorsport career to an end, but discovered such success on the site that it has been enough to fund her return to the sport.
Gracie was part of the first ever all-female driver tandem to compete in the Bathurst 1000, accompanying motorsports veteran Simona de Silvestro behind the wheel in the 2015 race. The pair competed together again as wildcards in the 2016 Bathurst 1000, finishing 12th in an impressive performance.
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Forced to bring her motorsport career to an end in 2017, Gracie turned to OnlyFans in 2020, where her history as a Supercars driver helped her establish herself as one of the site's top performers. Gracie once claimed to have made $500,000 in one month alone from payments and subscriptions on OnlyFans.
The sudden influx of cash prompted speculation Gracie would make a return to motorsport - however the notoriously expensive sport proved slightly more difficult to break into than expected. It wasn't until the opportunity to join the GT World Challenge series came about that things really started to gain traction.
OnlyFans were happy to jump on board as a sponsor for one of their most lucrative users, with Gracie's R8 festooned white and blue OnlyFans logos, as well as some QR codes painted onto the car. Gracie says the codes won't actually be part of the livery when she makes her series debut in Perth.
"We’ve purchased the Audi to run for the season,” Gracie said. “There’s a lot going through my mind, it’s been quite a big effort to get here to say the least. There have been a lot of moving parts in the background to make this happen.
“Obviously, I’ve got all the Stan documentary stuff on the side, and I pitched to OnlyFans a few months ago about being potentially involved in my return to racing and they were hugely interested. It was back and forth in discussions with them to come onboard as a major sponsor, but to have an OnlyFans car running around is really exciting.
“When people think of OnlyFans they think of me, so why not have it on the car? It was a big, big job to get it this far and I’m sure it’s going to be an even bigger year.
"There’s lots of excitement, lots of people involved to get it here, which I’m very grateful for. I’m so excited and I can’t believe we pulled it off and that we are going to Perth. I can’t believe we’ve finally done it and we’re going to be there.”
Renee Gracie ready for motorsport comeback in GT World Challenge
Supercars officials had previously smacked down Gracie's attempt to compete at the Bathurst 1000 as a "publicity stunt". An official told the Daily Telegraph: “She is just using the sport to sell more videos. It is not even worth commenting on because it is not going to happen."
Gracie revealed how her return to professional racing has been hampered by a number of obstacles, including racing bosses who frowned upon her career change. “Ultimately it shouldn’t matter who you are or what you do,” she said.
“If you want to achieve something and you set your mind to doing it, you should be able to achieve that. It’s taken two years to get to this point with some people frowning on what I wanted to do and trying to stop me or discourage me, but the fact we have got to this point shows that it doesn’t matter – and it shouldn’t matter. This announcement is the proof of that.”
In an earlier interview discussing how the decision to join the GT World Challenge came about, Gracie said her road back to racing had been difficult. Part of the problem, she said, was finding the right people to have on the team around her.
“I started planning a return to the sport in 2021, which is when I started getting serious, talking to people and discovering what was possible,” Gracie told the GT World Challenge Australia website. “The first indication was that there were challenges to find the support within the industry to make it work, so we took our time to plan and get the ideal program together.
“I was very strategic with who I worked with and who I wanted to deal with on my comeback. Some opportunities that presented were right and some were wrong, but the stars have aligned to pull all this together.
“Everything has worked and fallen into place and I’m really happy with everyone I am working with and who has been part of this journey. It was proof to me that yes, this was the time to get back into racing.”
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