Gavin, Huff Set for Bathurst 12H in Rotek Audi

Photo: Nathan Wong

The list of star drivers for next month’s Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour keeps growing, as four-time Le Mans class winner Oliver Gavin and 2012 WTCC champion Rob Huff were confirmed Wednesday for the Australian GT enduro.

GM factory driver Gavin and fellow Englishman Huff will join Kevin Gleason and Richard Meins in an Audi R8 LMS fielded by Rotek Racing. The German squad, which also has a base in Sonoma, Calif., is coming off victory in December’s Thunderhill 25 Hours with an Audi TT RS.

“This will be my very first time at Mount Panorama and it’s very exciting to have the opportunity to compete in the Bathurst 12 Hour with Rotek Racing,” said Gavin. “It’s a race that’s growing in stature and it’s certainly going to be a challenge.

“Any Australia motorsport aficionado will say that Bathurst is very unique and a circuit that cannot be replicated, in the same way as Le Mans, Macau, the Nurburgring and Spa.”

Huff, who was a part of Rotek’s winning lineup at Thunderhill, has kicked off his 2014 endurance racing season off in style, with a runner-up finish in the 24 Hours of Dubai in All-Inkl’s Mercedes-Benz  SLS AMG GT3 and finishing on the Prototype Challenge podium in last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with 8Star Motorsports.

“Bathurst is always a highlight for me,” Huff said. “I raced there last year and thoroughly enjoyed myself, both on and off the track.

“The Mount Panorama circuit is legendary and completely unique – the run over the mountain is a hair-raising experience that’s full of unconventional corners and blind crests and bookended by a couple of long straights – while the Bathurst 12 Hour is growing year-on-year.”

Gavin joins a handful of U.S. sports car racing stars making their debut at Mount Panorama, including Porsche factory driver Patrick Long, who will be in a Class B Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car with David Calvert-Jones and Alex Davison.

“I think you need to spend quite a lot of time there to get somewhere close to being competitive and getting used to the circuit’s high-speed sections and the closeness of the walls is going to be one of the biggest challenges for me,” Gavin said.

“However, we have a solid driver line-up and the plan is to push for the class victory. We will have a good, fast and solid package that’s capable of fighting with anybody.”

More than 40 cars are expected to take part in the around-the-clock enduro, set for Feb. 7-9.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John