Michael Caruso
Caruso in 2015
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1983-05-25)25 May 1983 (age 42) Sydney,New South Wales
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Supercars Championship career
Car number	18
Current team	Team 18 (Endurance race co-driver)
Championships	0
Races	357
Wins	2
Podiums	10
Pole positions	0
2021 position	40th (114 pts)

Michael Caruso (born 25 May 1983) is an Australian professional motor racing driver. Caruso competes in thePirtek Enduro Cup, co-driving aChevrolet Camaro Mk.6 forTeam 18 alongsideMark Winterbottom.

Caruso began his career ingo-karts at age 12,^[1] before graduating toFormula Ford in 2001. He moved toFormula 3 in 2002 and won theAustralian Formula 3 Championship in 2003.^[2] Despite offers to move toFIAFormula 3000 in Europe, he chose to join theHolden Young Lions team in theV8 Supercars Development Series for 2004.^[1] After a poor start, he quit the team mid-season. In 2005, Caruso competed in the first two rounds of the Australian Formula 3 Championship, before moving to Europe to be a test and reserve driver for the F3000 outfitTeam Astromega.

In 2006, he returned to Australia and to the V8 Supercars Development Series with Jim Morton'sDecina Racing, finishing 4th in thechampionship. In2007, he was runner-up in the Development Series, again with Jim Morton's renamed Ford Rising Star program. He also made three main-gameV8 Supercars starts in this period. The first of which was at the2006 Bathurst 1000 as a replacement forMark Porter in aBrad Jones Racing entry. Porter had a serious crash on the Friday of the event and later died in hospital. In 2007, Caruso entered theSandown 500 andBathurst 1000 withWPS Racing.^[3]

In 2008, Caruso was signed to compete in his first fullseason in V8 Supercars, driving aHolden Commodore (VE) forGarry Rogers Motorsport, where he replacedDean Canto. In2009, Caruso won his first championship race at theSkycity Triple Crown atHidden Valley Raceway. He also finished on the podium at the2009 Bathurst 1000, co-driving withLee Holdsworth, and in the second race of theSydney 500.^[4] Caruso stayed at the team until 2012, only scoring one further podium in this period.

In 2013, Caruso moved toNissan Motorsport, a four-car team running theNissan Altima L33. The team was the first to introduce a new manufacturer to the category under theNew Generation V8 Supercar (then known as Car of the Future) regulations in2013.^[5] The team largely struggled with the new package and Caruso finished 23rd in the championship. The highlight of the year for Caruso was at theWinton 360, where he finished second in the opening race. Caruso had been leading the race at the conclusion of the first half of the split race; however was beaten by teammateJames Moffat to victory in the second half.^[6]

In2014, Caruso finished a career-high 10th in the championship, despite only scoring one podium, in the second race of theGold Coast 600. Caruso also took pole at the non-championshipV8 Supercars Challenge race, a support event to theAustralian Grand Prix. Having featuredNorton 360 sponsorship in 2013 and 2014, from 2015 onwards, Caruso sported a corporateNissan andNismo livery. After another lean year in2015, Caruso began2016 strongly at the season-openingAdelaide 500. Caruso finished second in the Sunday race and led the championship following the event.^[7] At the2016 CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown, Caruso won his second career championship race, seven years after his first and coincidentally once again at Hidden Valley Raceway.^[8] On 30 January 2019 it was announced that Caruso would lose his drive with Nissan Motorsport. He will not compete full-time in 2019 and has yet to announce an ENDURO drive.^[9]

• 
  Caruso placed tenth in the2014 V8 Supercars Championship driving aNissan L33 Altima
• 
  TheNissan Altima of Michael Caruso at the2018 Adelaide 500

(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	Co-driver	Position	Laps
2006	Brad Jones Racing	Ford Falcon BA	Dale Brede Mark Porter†	DNF	59
2007	WPS Racing	Ford Falcon BF	Grant Denyer	15th	159
2008	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden Commodore VE	Lee Holdsworth	DNF	139
2009	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden Commodore VE	Lee Holdsworth	3rd	161
2010	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden Commodore VE	Greg Ritter	10th	161
2011	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden Commodore VE	Marcus Marshall	10th	161
2012	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden Commodore VE	Greg Ritter	5th	161
2013	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	Daniel Gaunt	25th	147
2014	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	Dean Fiore	15th	158
2015	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	Dean Fiore	13th	161
2016	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	Dean Fiore	8th	161
2017	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	Dean Fiore	6th	161
2018	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	Dean Fiore	DNF	69
2019	Tickford Racing	Ford Mustang S550	Cam Waters	20th	148
2020	Tickford Racing	Ford Mustang S550	Lee Holdsworth	7th	161
2021	Charlie Schwerkolt Racing	Holden Commodore ZB	Mark Winterbottom	16th	161
2022	Charlie Schwerkolt Racing	Holden Commodore ZB	Mark Winterbottom	15th	161
2023	Charlie Schwerkolt Racing	Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	Mark Winterbottom	DNF[10]	160
2024	Charlie Schwerkolt Racing	Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	Mark Winterbottom	18th	161

† Porter was the entered driver but was killed in a support race. Caruso would replace him.

• Official Website
• Michael Caruso V8 Supercars Official Profile
• Michael Caruso career summary at DriverDB.com
• Michael Caruso driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• 1983 births
• Australian Formula 3 Championship drivers
• Living people
• Racing drivers from Sydney
• Sportsmen from New South Wales
• Supercars Championship drivers
• Australian Endurance Championship drivers
• Kelly Racing drivers
• Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers
• Nismo drivers
• Porsche Carrera Cup Australia drivers
• Racing drivers from New South Wales
• TCR Australia Touring Car Series drivers
• 21st-century Australian sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from July 2023