Reigning champions Tekno Autosports has unveiled the driver line-ups for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour with Alvaro Parente the only surviving member of the winning crew from last year.

With Shane van Gisbergen moving to Scott Taylor’s AMG factory-supported Mercedes-Benz GT machine and team owner/driver Jono Webb standing aside, Parente will be joined by Rob Bell and Come Ledogar in the #1 McLaren 650S GT3.

Tekno’s Supercars star Will Davison will be in charge of the #59 McLaren alongside the experienced Jonny Kane and Ben Barnicoat.

Davison, who supplied Tekno with the second leg of a Bathurst double by winning the Supercheap Auto 1000 last year, will provide vital experience for Kane and Barnicoat who will be making their debut at the mountain circuit.

“With McLaren, we are definitely going to be contenders, so it’s a pretty exciting way to start the year,” Davison said.

“I’d love to test the car before but I did the race last year in the McLaren so it should come back to me relatively quickly,” Davison said, who was paired with Bell and Andrew Watson in the second Tekno machine which finished ninth in 2016.

“The cars are very different to Supercars but obviously the track knowledge is beneficial.

“I don’t have a huge amount of experience in GT cars but it should all even out with the other guys.

“It’s a very competitive field with the best GT drivers in the world and the best Supercar drivers so it ends up pretty even.

“The two guys in my car will be learning the circuit and I’ll be picking their brains on getting the most out of the car as well.”

BATHURST 12 HOUR ENTRY LIST

Class A – GT3 Pro-Pro No Team Name Manufacturer Model Drivers 7 BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3 Tony Longhurst Mark Skaife Russell Ingall Timo Glock 8 Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 Steven Kane Guy Smith Oliver Jarvis 17 Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 Andy Soucek Maxime Soulet Vincent Abril 22 STM Mercedes AMG GT3 Craig Baird Shane Van Gisbergen Maro Engel 23 Nissan Motorsport Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Katsumasa Chiyo Alex Buncombe Michael Caruso 24 Nissan Motorsport Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Florian Strauss Todd Kelly Jann Mardenborough 25 BMW Team SRM BMW M6 GT3 Steve Richards Mark Winterbottom Marco Wittmann 38 Wall Racing Nissan GT-R Chris Pither Adrian Flack Daniel Bilski 1 Tekno Autosports / McLaren GT McLaren 650s GT3 Alvaro Parente Come Ledogar Rob Bell 59 Tekno Autosports / McLaren GT McLaren 650s GT3 Will Davison Jonny Kane Ben Barnicoat 74 Jamec Pem Racing Audi R8 LMS Garth Tander Christopher Mies Christopher Haase 75 Jamec Pem Racing Audi R8 LMS Markus Winklehock Robin Frijns Frank Stippler 88 Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 Toni Vilander Craig Lowndes Jamie Whincup 99 Walkenhorst BMW M6 GT3 TBA TBA TBA 911 Walkinshaw GT3 Porsche 911 GT3 R (Type 991) Earl Bamber Kevin Estre Laurens Vanthoor 991 Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R TBA TBA TBA

Class A – GT3 Pro-AM No Team Name Manufacturer Model Drivers 11 Objective Racing McLaren 650s Tony Walls Warren Luff Tim Slade Alex Davison 12 Competition Motorsports powered by Ice Break Porsche 991 GT3 R David Calvert-Jones Patrick Long Marc Lieb Matt Campbell 83 HTP Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT GT3 Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda TBA

Class A – GT3 AM No Team Name Manufacturer Model Drivers 2 DJS Racing Audi LMS R8 Daniel Stutterd James Bergmuller Samuel Fillmore 3 Team ASR Pty Ltd Audi R8 LMS Ash Samadi Daniel Gaunt Matt Halliday 5 GT Motorsport Pty Ltd Audi R8 LMS Greg Taylor Nathan Antunes Elliot Barbour 9 Hallmarc Audi R8 LMS Marc Cini Lee Holdsworth Dean Fiore 29 Trofeo Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Jim Manolios Ryan Millier Ivan Capelli Dean Canto 32 Lago Racing Lamborghini R-EX Roger Lago Steve Owen David Russell 35 Miedecke Stone Motorsport Aston Martin V12 Vantage George Miedecke Ash Walsh Tony Bates 37 Keltic Racing McLaren 650s Anthony Quinn Klark Quinn Grant Denyer 45 Supabarn Audi R8 LMS James (Dimitri) Koundouris Theo Koundouris Marcus Marshall Simon Evans 47 Kiwi Racing Lamborghini Reiter R-EX Glenn Smith Kevin Bell Nicholas Chester John De Vries 51 AMAC Motorsport Porsche GT3 R Andrew McPherson Neale Muston Tim Miles 61 Hogs Mercedes SLS AMG Mark Griffith David Reynolds Dominic Storey 66 Wall Racing Nissan GT-R Brett Hobson Erik Davis Fred Poordad 96 MARC Cars Australia BMW M6 GT3 Chaz Mostert Max Twigg Morgan Haber 912 Walkinshaw GT3 Porsche 911 GT3 R (Type 991) Liam Talbot John Martin Davashen Padayachee

Class allocations between GT3 Pro / ProAm / AM are subject to change.

Class B – GT3 (Cup Cars) No Team Name Manufacturer Model Drivers 4 Grove Motorsport Porsche 911 Cup Car Stephen Grove Benjamin Barker Alexandre Imperatori 6 Wall Racing Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Richard Gartner Aaron Zerefos Indiran Padayachee Ric Shaw 14 IKAD Racing Porsche 997 Cup Car Peter Major Jordan Love Nicholas McBride 21 Steve Richards Motorsport Porsche GT3 Cup Dean Grant Dylan O’Keeffe Xavier West 50 Synep Racing Porsche 991 Cup Car Adam Cranston Josh Cranston Aaron Steer James Winslow

Class C – GT4 No Team Name Manufacturer Model Drivers 18 PROsport Performance Porsche Cayman PRO 4 Charles Putman Charles Espenlaub Joe Foster Andrew Pilgrim 19 PROsport Performance Porsche Cayman PRO 4 TBA TBA TBA 40 Brookspeed Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport Aaron Mason David Drinkwater TBA 41 Brookspeed Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR TBA TBA TBA 48 M Motorsport KTM X-Bow GT4 TBA TBA TBA 56 RA Motorsports – Ginetta Ginetta G55 TBA TBA TBA 62 R-Motorsport Aston Martin V8 Vantage Andreas Baenziger Peter Leemhuis Jan Struve 69 RA Motorsports – Ginetta Ginetta G55 TBA TBA TBA