Objective McLaren all set for tomorrow

After missing out on Qualifying 2 earlier today, Objective Racing’s Class A Pro Am McLaren has been confirmed to DSC as a starter for tomorrow’s race. The team explained that the car is now fine after it had been dealing with a technical issue. The car will start from 24th on the grid.

Further down the order, after its exclusion from Qualifying, the BMW Team SRM M6 GT3 will start from dead last in the 50-car field.

Hallmarc Audi to be fixed

The Hallmarc Audi R8 LMS GT3, which Lee Holdsworth crashed in Qualifying 2, is fixable, according to event organiser Supercars.

Audi explained to Supercars.com that the team will repairing the chassis tonight, and expect the repairs to be finished by 10pm.

Assuming it does take the start as planned, it will start 19th overall.

MARC Mazda & Lambo swaps

Bathurst 12 Hour has reported that 2014 winner John Bowe’s run in this year’s race has been rescued by a last-minute car swap between M-Motorsport and his his team Safe-T-Stop.

Wall Racing reported that the team’s Gallardo suffered a dropped cylinder which threatened to end the veteran and his teammates Richard Gartner, David Wall and Hadrian Morrall weekend early.

A deal was this afternoon struck with M Motorsport owner Justin McMillan, whose team is running a pair of KTM X-Bows in the event, to use the team’s spare Lamborghini in the race.

Elsewhere, MARC Cars Australia has had to swap its heavily damaged #93 Mazda for its on-site spare ahead of the race. The original car sustained major damage after Zane Goddard had an off at Reid Park in this morning’s practice.

Grove livery explained

Yesterday DSC wrote about a commemorative livery which the Carrera Cup Asia Class B Porsche is sporting here at Bathurst, but as it turns out that’s not the only notable livery in the class!

Grove Motorsport, which will start tomorrow’s Bathurst 12 Hour from class pole, has a very patriotic colour scheme for the 12 Hour, which team owner Stephen Grove says is a message to the aforementioned Asian crew:

“There’s the Carerra Cup Asia team coming over, and we’re in Carerra Cup Australia, and we really wanted to send them a message there have an Australian theme, we’ve got a boxing kangroo, the coat of arms and a crocodile. We wanted to make the statement that they’re here in Australia and show them that they’re in our town!”

Weather for the race

This week in Bathurst the weather has been very mild, the temperatures trackside rarely exceeding 22 degrees celcius; a far cry from years past when the it’s been scorching.

For the race tomorrow, the forecast is sunshine and scattered clouds throughout the race, with the peak temperature 24 degrees shortly after lunchtime.

Tregurtha thrilled by late call-up

Ginetta Cars Australia driver Will Tregurtha spoke to DSC this afternoon about his experience racing at Bathurst this weekend. The 2017 British GT4 champion explained that he was over the moon to have received the call to head to Bathurst for the weekend, which came just last week, Ginetta naming him as the replacement for Charlie Robertson.

“I didn’t really know I’d be coming until last week, so it’s been late. But what a great surprise! Ginetta treat everyone so well, and I have to thank them, as I would not be here without them believing in me.

“It’s been a tough weekend so far for us in the #77 G55 GT4, we’ve had a few issues, which means I’ve only managed to get two laps in the car to this point. But I’m confident for the race, I feel like we’ve got all of our problems out of the way before the race.”

This weekend is set to be a real table-setter for his 2018 programme, which Tregurtha said will be an exciting one, racing with 2017 teammate Stuart Middleton and their title-winning outfit HHC Motorsport again in the GT4 European Series.

Davison’s viral video

The clip below went round the world and back, and for good reason! If you haven’t seen it, check out WRT driver Will Davison’s unbelievable save at the top of the mountain below:

Save of the century? Probably yes!@will_davison in Audi Sport Team WRT car #39 with an unbelievable catch while doing 200km/h at @MtPanCircuit during one of the @Bathurst12hour practice sessions.#WRT #Audi #B12hr #ICGT pic.twitter.com/Btp4Yc16vc — WRT – W Racing Team (@followWRT) February 2, 2018

Was it luck, car control, or a combination of the two?

Faces in the paddock

While touring the paddock this weekend, DSC has noticed a variety of familiar faces not directly involved with the on-track action.

Many members of SRO are here for the event including Stephane Ratel himself on IGTC duty. British GT and Blancpain GT Series Asia Championship manager Benjamin Franassovici is also present, recruiting teams for the Suzuka 10 Hours later this year.

Elsewhere, Bill Riley is here assisting the SunEnergy1 Mercedes effort, while David Richards, chairman of Prodrive was spotted by DSC.

On the well-known driver turned brand ambassador front, World Endurance Champion Mark Webber is here with Porsche, and multiple DTM champion and 24-hour race winner Bernd Schineder is present with Mercedes.

How to follow

You can follow the action tomorrow with live streaming, and with the radio commentary feed from Radio Le Mans. From the green flag on RLM will stream the race on its RS1 station; in the booth will be Bathurst 12 Hour regulars John Hindhaugh and Richard Craill, as well as Jonny Palmer. Live timing is also available.

The big race is set to start at 5:45am local time in New South Wales.

Featured image courtesy of McLaren Auto, Grove Porsche image courtesy of Grove Racing