2015 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour - Set To Be The Best Yet
THE 2015 LIQUI-MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour is shaping up to be a race for the ages, with one of the strongest ever fields assembled for an endurance race at Mount Panorama set to tackle the February 6-8 Event.
A bumper field of the world’s finest GT vehicles will assemble in Bathurst for the around-the-clock enduro with an incredible field of cars and stars confirmed two months out from the green flag flying.
Defending champions, Melbourne-based Maranello Motorsport, will return to defend their crown with an upgraded Ferrari 458 Italia in an effort to claim a rare Bathurst back-to-back.
The Ferrari squad held out German team HTP Motorsport and former winners Erebus Motorsport in a thrilling finish to the 2014 race, Ferrari edging Mercedes-Benz by just 0.3s after 12 intense hours of racing.
Both HTP – one of the top international GT3 teams – and Erebus have confirmed their returns in an effort to get Mercedes back on top of the podium and they are both very good chances to do just that: Their SLS AMG monsters are exceptionally potent at Mount Panorama and have finished second, first and second in the last three years, respectively.
Ferrari will be well represented, however, with a record number of the Italian thoroughbreds confirmed starters for next February.
Italy’s AF Corse, Malaysia’s Clearwater Racing and Trass Family Motorsport from New Zealand will join a host of other locally-entered cars representing the prancing horse.
Double winners Audi are well represented, including a two-car entry from 2012 12-hour winners, Phoenix Racing. One of the top teams in all of GT racing, Phoenix are out for Bathurst revenge having not featured on the podium in the last two years.
Perhaps the highest-profile additions to the 2015 field are the three Bentley Continental GT3s locked in to start the race at 5:50am on Sunday, February 8 next year.
As well as one car entered by Flying B Racing – an offshoot of Maranello Motorsport – two works-supported cars will travel from the United Kingdom to be run by M-Sport, the company that designed and built the incredible car and helped take it to two victories in the incredibly competitive Blancpain Series in Europe this year.
With Ferrari, Bentley and Audi teams all featuring some form of factory support – from either Australia or internationally – the fully-works NISMO Global Athlete team will return for a second-attempt at Bathurst glory with their Nissan GTR NISMO GT3.
The highly-publicised return of ‘Godzilla’ to the Mountain in 2014 lasted only a few hours after the car was involved in an early-race accident, however with a year’s worth of experience the Japanese squad is set to go much deeper into the race in 2015.
Rounding out the incredible outright class field are a two-car team from top Asian outfit Craft Bamboo Racing, who will field a pair of Aston Martin Vantage GT3s, multiple Australian-entered Lamborghini Gallardo GT3s and the hugely popular McLaren MP4 12C GT3 entered by Tony Quinn.
In all, nine different brands will feature in the outright class alone representing some of the most famous and high-profile marques in world motorsport, with teams travelling from the United States, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and, of course, all corners of Australia.
On the driver front, several profile names have already confirmed their intention to compete for Bathurst victory with David Brabham perhaps the biggest of all.
The youngest son of triple Formula One World Champion Sir Jack, Brabham has won the LeMans 24 hour race on three occasions (once outright and two class victories) and is generally regarded as one of the best sports car racers of his time. Brabham will join defending winners Peter Edwards and John Bowe in the Flying B Racing Bentley next February.
Maranello Motorsport are likely to confirm the return of defending winner and ex-F1 driver Mika Salo to their Ferrari, while German sources suggest their legendary ace, Bernd Schneider, is set for another crack at victory in one of the four SLSs entered.
British Touring Car Champion Gordon Shedden will drive an Aston Martin for British team Motionsport, while Nissan are likely to bring three highly-qualified drivers from their global GT program to fill the GTR.
More key driver signings are expected in coming weeks.
With the grid expected to feature a massive 55-plus car field, class racing will also play a massive role in the race as teams look for glory in the 12-hour ‘race within a race’.
Five classes make up the field with the Class B fight – for Porsche’s venerable and successful GT3 Cup models – set to be the most competitive. A dozen of the German stunners make up the Class: the strength and reliability of both the teams and drivers involved often seeing them pop up amongst the outright cars later in the race.
Class C (GT4) features the ‘baby’ GT vehicles including entries representing Lotus, Aston Martin and Ginetta.
Class D brings the Bathurst tradition of ‘race what you drive’ back to the Liqui-Moly 12-hour with production-based BMWs, Audi’s and more to fight out something of a showroom showdown.
Class I will also have plenty of interest, set to feature three of the Australian-developed international endurance racer ‘MARC’ race cars that made their global debut at Bathurst this year. A pair of ex-GrandAm Series Mazda RX8s will add to the depth of noise the field creates thanks to their rotary wail.
Tickets remain on sale at www.bathurst12hour.com.au with early-bird pricing available until December 31.
The entire race will be broadcast live on the Seven Network around Australia, including the final four hours live on Seven on Sunday, February 8, 2015.
Live streaming of the race via www.bathrust12hour.com.au will also continue, giving fans of the Event every possible way to ensure they catch all of the action.
Head to www.bathurst12hour.com.au for all the breaking news, or follow the Event on social media (facebook.com/bathurst12hour or @Bathurst12hour on Twitter) to stay up to speed.
