Gregory Paul Rust (born 19 July 1970 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

) is an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

journalist and presenter. He has previously worked for

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

, the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

and the

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...

(SBS) as a freelance commentator/reporter/presenter, mainly covering motor racing.

Early life

Rust was born in

Australia on 19 July 1970. Rust has a brother and sister. Born into a family with a genuine love for all forms of motorsport, he was a regular at the Sydney Showground Speedway as a child and competed as an amateur racer in

karts Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size moto ...

. After leaving high school, he worked on a cadetship program with ANZ specialising in home loans. In his late teens and early twenties, Rust enjoyed some class wins as a driver in rallysprints and khana-crosses after buying a modified Mitsubishi Galant with several close friends.

Radio career

Rust worked for three years with the

Macquarie Radio Network Nine Radio (formerly Macquarie Media Limited) is an Australian media company, owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and headquartered in North Sydney. The company operates radio stations nationally in the capital cities of Sydney, Melbou ...

stations 2GB and 2CH in Sydney initially as a sport reporter and later became a daytime news reader.

Television career

Early years

After cutting his teeth with SBS motorsport program '' Speedweek'', Rust was drafted into Channel 9's commentary team for the final Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Eastern Creek Raceway in 1996. He called the support races with

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

World Champion Alan Jones.

Network Ten

In 1997 he was hired by Ten to host the

Australian Super Touring Championship The Australian Super Touring Championship (formerly known as the Australian 2.0 Litre Touring Car Championship) was a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, CAMS-sanctioned national motor racing title for Super Touring Cars. History Super Touri ...

for 2-litre Touring Cars - a position previously held by his close friend Leigh Diffey, who had moved on to Network Ten's V8 Supercar coverage. Rust commentated the Australian Super Touring Championship for 2 years before starting work as V8 pit reporter late in 1998. He was a part of Ten's V8 coverage for almost 10 years - even hosting and anchoring the commentary on occasions. During this period the station won numerous

Logie Award The TV Week Logie Awards (known colloquially as The Logies) is an annual ceremony celebrating and honouring the best shows and stars in Television in Australia, Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The eve ...

s for its broadcast of the famous

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

and Rust developed a reputation as a pit specialist also working on the

Gold Coast Indy 300 The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging track, alongside a str ...

and the

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual Formula One motor racing event, taking place in Melbourne, Victoria. The event is contracted to be held at least until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Gran ...

in Melbourne. Despite an offer to join the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

in 2007, Rust stayed with Ten to front the station's

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

and F1 broadcasts and its long running magazine motorsport show ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

''. He also hosted and commentated Ten's coverage of the

Red Bull Air Race The World Championship Air Race is a series of air races sanctioned by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI). Originally established in 2003 as the Red Bull Air Race, and created by Red Bull GmbH, the event involves competitors navigating a ...

series. Outside of motorsport, Rust worked alongside

Sandra Sully Sandra Lee Sully (born 18 February 1965) is an Australian news presenter and journalist, currently presenting ''10 News First'' in Sydney. Sully attended Brisbane State High School, graduating in 1978. Career Sully started out presenting ...

and former 2GB colleague Jason Morrison assisting in Channel 10's initial coverage of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

by logging footage and by writing and voicing a 5 minute snapshot story on what had unfolded for a special breakfast bulletin, working until sun up. Rust also worked on

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

's coverage of the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

. and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

V8 Media and Fox Sports

In 2015, the V8 Supercars television rights moved to a shared broadcast between Fox Sports and Network Ten. The broadcast shared a common commentary team, produced by V8 Supercars Media and headed up by Rust and Neil Crompton. Rust also began hosting Fox Sports' new V8 Supercars panel series ‘’ Inside Supercars’’. He fronts the coverage for various international networks and in 2016 made a return to pit reporting for the races. alongside commentating the Super2 Series, with four time

winner Greg Murphy. At the end of the 2017 season, Rust announced he would be leaving the Supercars television broadcast team.

Personal life

Rust is currently married to his wife Sarah and has two daughters, Georgie who is a model and Stella. They reside in New Zealand, living near Supercars legend and close friend Greg Murphy. Rust has also driven

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

, Formula Holden,

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

, Toyota Racing Series and Speedcars/Midgets for story research. He is colloquially known as "Rusty" or "Thrusta" (a nickname given to him by the late

Barry Sheene Barry Steven Frank Sheene (11 September 1950 – 10 March 2003) was a British professional motorcycle racer and television sports presenter. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing between and , most prominently as a member of the Su ...

a former World Motorcycle Champion and Network Ten colleague).

References

External links

*
10play.com.au

parramattacityraceway.com.au

smarttalk.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rust, Greg 1970 births Living people Australian sports broadcasters Motorsport announcers Australian television presenters