One of the most broadly-accomplished collections of racing talent from around the world ever to be assembled at Mount Panorama will contest the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour next week.
A cross section of champion drivers from Australia and New Zealand will be joined by world champions, ex-Formula 1 drivers, GT title winners and rising stars in a fiercely-competitive field.
2018 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour | Tickets | Event Info
With local interest to be centred on 11 full-time Virgin Australia Supercars Championship stars, more than 175 drivers from 17 different nations in 53 cars will contest the February 4 race.
The Bathurst enduro doubles as the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, a four-round series that also includes the Spa 24 Hour, Suzuka 10 Hour and California 8 Hour enduros.
The Supercars contingent is led by seven-time champion Jamie Whincup in a factory-supported Mercedes, with Bathurst 1000 winner David Reynolds and Sandown 500 victor Cameron Waters both also in AMG GT3s.
Whincup’s Triple Eight team-mates Craig Lowndes and Shane van Gisbergen will share a McLaren, with 2017 Supercars title runner-up Scott McLaughlin to race under the same banner and Tim Slade in another 650S.
Chaz Mostert will be part of BMW’s attack, while Garth Tander, Will Davison and Lee Holdsworth are all preparing for Audi drives.
PIRTEK Enduro Cup regulars include Luke Youlden and Steve Owen in Lamborghinis, the pair having won the October Bathurst race with Reynolds and three-race series with Mostert respectively.
Including defending winners Whincup and Lowndes and 2016 victor van Gisbergen, there are nine drivers who have conquered the 12 Hour on the grid.
Drivers from all levels of Australian motorsport are represented, from Bathurst winners John Bowe, Steven Richards and Tony Longhurst to rising stars Matt Campbell, Will Brown, Matt Brabham and Aaron Seton.
The current World Endurance Champion, and van Gisbergen’s 2018 Supercars co-driver, Earl Bamber will lead the international brigade.
Bamber won the WEC title and his second Le Mans 24 Hours last year, and is accompanied by drivers who have made a combined 220 F1 starts, IndyCar and DTM experience and GT guns.
The latter group includes the 2017 winners of the Spa 24 Hour - Jules Gounon, Christopher Haase and Markus Winkelhock - and three of the four who won the Nurburgring 24 Hour, with Winkelhock joined by Christopher Mies and Kelvin van der Linde on that occasion.
A total of 12 manufacturers will be represented on the grid, a host of them looking to win the Intercontinental GT Challenge claimed by Audi in 2017.
Factory-supported or assisted teams from Bentley, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, McLaren, Porsche, KTM, Ginetta and Lamborghini will compete for outright or class victory at Bathurst, as will the Australian-designed and built MARC Cars Australia entries.
International squads include the winner of the 2017 World Rally Championship’s manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles M-Sport, Audi Sport Team WRT and the iconic BMW Schnitzer outfit.
A host of privateer runners in each class will uphold the Bathurst tradition of smaller teams punching above their weight to achieve a result.
The Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour commences at 5:45am on Sunday February 4, with the entire race to be broadcast live on the Seven Network.
Saturday afternoon’s Pirelli Top 10 Shootout will also be shown live on 7mate.
Tickets are available at the gate and represent great value at just $46, including access to the pit and paddock area, while a limited number of grandstand seats also remain on sale.
Full Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour entry list
Car # | Class | Team Name | Car | Drivers |
17 | PRO | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley Continental GT3 | Steven Kane, Guy Smith, Jules Gounon |
18 | PRO | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley Continental GT3 | Andy Soucek, Maxime Soulet, Vincent Abril |
22 | PRO | Audi Sport Customer Racing | Audi R8 LMS | Garth Tander, Kelvin Van der Linde, Fredrick Vervisch |
37 | PRO | Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi R8 LMS | Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard, Dries Vanthoor |
43 | PRO | BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M6 GT3 | Augusto Farfus , Chaz Mostert, Marco Wittmann |
55 | PRO | Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing | Mercedes AMG GT GT3 | Nick Leventis, Lewis Williamson, Cameron Waters, David Fumaneli |
56 | PRO | Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing | Mercedes AMG GT GT3 | Maximillian Buhk, Maximillian Goetz, Alvaro Parente |
58 | PRO | YNA Autosport | Mclaren 650S GT3 | Shane Van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes, Côme Ledogar |
74 | PRO | Audi Sport Customer Racing | Audi R8 LMS | Christopher Mies, Christopher Haase, Markus Winklehock |
75 | PRO | Mercedes-AMG Team SunEnergy1 Racing | Mercedes AMG GT3 | Kenny Habul, Tristan Vautier, Jamie Whincup, Raffaele Marciello |
100 | PRO | BMW Team SRM | BMW M6 GT3 | Steven Richards, Timo Glock, Phillip Eng |
911 | PRO | Manthey-Racing | Porsche 911 | Romain Dumas, Frederic Makowiecki, Dirk Werner |
991 | PRO | Craft Bamboo Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Earl Bamber, Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor |
8 | PRO-AM | Scott Taylor Motorsport | Mercedes AMG GT3 | Max Twigg, Craig Baird, Tony D'Alberto |
9 | PRO-AM | Audi Sport Customer Racing | Audi R8 LMS | Marc Cini, Lee Holdsworth, Dean Fiore |
11 | PRO-AM | Objective Racing | Mclaren 650S | Tony Walls, Warren Luff, Tim Slade, Jaxon Evans |
12 | PRO-AM | Competition Motorsports | Porsche 991 GT3R | David Calvert-Jones, Patrick Long, Matt Campbell, Alex Davison |
19 | PRO-AM | Nineteen Corp P/L | Mercedes GT | David Reynolds, John Martin, Liam Talbot, Mark Griffith |
29 | PRO-AM | Trofeo Motorsport | Lamborghini Hurracan | Jim Manolios, Ryan Millier, Ivan Capelli, Dean Canto |
32 | PRO-AM | Lago Racing | Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX | Roger Lago, David Russell, Steven Owen |
39 | PRO-AM | Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi R8 LMS | Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda, Will Davison |
47 | PRO-AM | YNA Autosport | Mclaren 650S GT3 | Scott McLaughlin, Fraser Ross, Andrew Watson , Alexander West |
82 | PRO-AM | Internatioal Motorsport | Audi R8 LMS | Andrew Bagnall, Matthew Halliday, Johnny Reid |
540 | PRO-AM | Black Swan Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Tim Pappas, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Luca Stolz, Marc Lieb |
777 | PRO-AM | Buik Motorworks | Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 REX | Yasser Shahin, Luke Youlden, Tomas Enge |
3 | AM | Audi Sport Customer Racing | Audi R8 LMS | Ash Samadi, Daniel Gaunt, Dylan O'Keefe |
6 | AM | Safe-T-Stop | Lamborghini Gallardo | Richard Gartner, Hadrian Morall, David Wall, John Bowe |
69 | AM | Audi Sport Customer Racing | Audi R8 LMS | James Koundoris, Theo Koundouris, Ash Walsh, Duvashen Padayachee |
4 | B | Grove Motorsport Pty Ltd | Porsche GT3 Cup | Stephen Grove, Brenton Grove, Benjamin Barker |
21 | B | JFC - Carter Grange | Porsche 911 | Daniel Stutterd, Sam Fillmore, TBA |
23 | B | Team Carrera Cup Asia | Porsche 991 | Paul Tresidder, Chris Van der Drift, Andrew Tang, Chen Yi-Fan |
42 | B | On Track Motorsport | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | Garry Mennell, Kean Booker, Aaron Zerefos, Mark Caine |
85 | B | Wall Racing | Porsche 911GT3-Cup | Charles Putman, Charles Espenlaub, Joe Foster |
13 | C | RHC-Lawrence/Strom (MarcGT) | BMW M4 GT4 | Daren Eric Jorgensen, Cameron Lawrence, Brett Strom, Kuno Wittmer |
15 | C | Baigent Motorsport | BMW M4 GT4 | Kent Baigent, Neil Allport, Matt Spratt, Ash Blewett |
30 | C | Boat Works Racing | BMW M4 | Aaron Seton, Matt Brabham, Tony Longhurst |
44 | C | BMW Team SRM | BMW M4 GT4 | Dean Grant, Xavier West, Cameron Hill |
46 | C | Prosport Performance GABH | Porsche Cayman PRO4 | Jorg Viebahn, Max Braams, Marco Schelp |
48 | C | M Motorsport P/L | KTM X-Bow GT4 | Justin McMillan, David Crampton, Tim Macrow, Caitlin Wood |
49 | C | KTM / M Motorsport | KTM X-Bow GT4 | Glen Wood, Tent Harrison, Cody Hill |
77 | C | Ginetta Australia | Ginetta G55 | TBA, Coleby Cowham, Lindsay Kearns |
88 | C | Ginetta Australia | Ginetta G55 | TBA, Jaie Robson, TBA |
111 | C | Ginetta Australia | Ginetta G50 | TBA, TBA, TBA |
33 | I | MARC Cars Australia | MARC Mazda V8 | TBA, TBA, TBA |
54 | I | MARC Cars Australia | MARC II V8 | Tony Alford, Kyle Alford, Chad Parish |
65 | I | Daytona Sportscars | Daytona Coupe | Jamie Augustine, Dylan Thomas, Rhys Howell |
66 | I | Daytona Sportscars | Dodge Viper | Ben Schoots, Adam Macrow, Michael Caine |
67 | I | MARC Cars Australia | MARC II V8 | Jake Camilleri, Morgan Haber, Aaron Cameron |
91 | I | MARC Cars Australia | MARC II V8 | Keith Kassulke, Rod Salmon, Will Brown |
93 | I | MARC Cars Australia | MARC Mazda V8 | Zane Goddard, Rob Thomson, Drew Ridge |
94 | I | MARC Cars Australia | MARC Mazda V8 | Nick Rowe, Tyler Everingham, James Kaye |
95 | I | Eastgate Engineering | MARC Focus V8 | Geoff Taunton, Jason Busk, Bryce Fullwood |
96 | I | MARC Cars Australia | MARC Focus V8 | John Goodacre, Peter Major, Jordan Love |