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Intercontinental GT Challenge

Bathurst Thursday Notebook

Sportscar365’s notebook from the Intercontinental GT Challenge paddock at Bathurst…

Photo: Audi Sport

***A ‘Town to Track’ parade was held on Thursday, with the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour field traveling by police escort from Mount Panorama Circuit to Bathurst city center, where Russell Street was closed off for a static display and a driver meet-and-greet.

***Heavy rain that fell during the morning mercifully held off for the open-air parade, enabling a fan engagement activity that has become a trademark of IGTC events to take place at Bathurst without weather-related interruption.

***From this year, all Bathurst 12 Hour winners are being recognized in the new ‘Bathurst Enduro Walk of Fame’ which has been installed outside the National Motor Racing Museum on the Mount Panorama circuit campus.

***As part of the ceremonies, the Bathurst Regional Council presented Jules Gounon with winners plaques for the 2020 edition, the current Mercedes-AMG ace acting on behalf of his Bentley co-drivers at that event, Maxime Soulet and Jordan Pepper.

***The 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour winners are the first drivers to be added to the Walk of Fame and will be joined by all previous victors of the six, 12, and 24-hour races held at Mount Panorama. Bathurst 1000 winners will continue to be recognized with plaques installed on the pavement outside the city council offices.

***Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli drivers’ championship points are not being awarded at Bathurst but will return for the other rounds of the season at Spa, Indianapolis and Kyalami. However, drivers can still score points toward the Intercontinental Pro-Am Challenge this weekend if their crew is entered in that competition.

***There has been a mixed reaction to SRO’s decision not to award drivers’ championship points. Luca Stolz said: “It’s good to keep this race alive and I think it’s OK to not score points here, because then we go to Spa and basically start again with Pro cars.”

***Maro Engel, on the other hand, feels that drivers’ points should be scored at Bathurst. “Yes, you’re going to have a Bronze driver on each car, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be any easier,” he told Sportscar365. “You’re still having a lot of the top drivers in GT racing combined with the local Supercars stars. It’s still going to be a massively challenging event, so from my point of view it would be right to give points.”

***The Sheargold Motorsport Mercedes-AMG is being run by Garth Walden Racing, a successful Porsche Cup team that has contested the 12 Hour several times. The two parties have already done a few races together, including the GTWC Australia season-opener at Phillip Island and a four-hour enduro at Sydney Motorsport Park.

***Sheargold’s original Mercedes-AMG that started the year was badly damaged in an accident during a test at Sydney Motorsport Park last Thursday. The Sydney-based team worked with Mercedes-AMG and its partners to source a replacement car that was dispatched to Garth Walden Racing’s headquarters last Saturday afternoon.

***The replacement AMG is used for Driving Academy experiences but can be loaned out to race teams in case of emergency. One complication was that it had already been loaned to another team when Sheargold filed its request. Mercedes-AMG’s Head of Customer Racing, Stefan Wendl, said that a new Driving Academy car is being built up in Europe and will be shipped to Australia next week. 

***The Sheargold/GWR team has spent the last few days preparing its new vehicle and converting it from sprint specification to endurance trim. Driver Brett Hobson described the work from the crew as a “mammoth job to get it to where we are now.”

***Bathurst rookie Nathanael Berthon is set for a rare Audi GT3 appearance in the No. 74 Audi Sport Team Valvoline machine. Berthon is an Audi Sport factory driver, on the same rung as his GT3 contemporaries, but the role usually sees him focus on TCR racing. He drove the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in pre-homologation trim at the Creventic 24H Barcelona and 12H Hungary last year. Those were Berthon’s first Audi GT3 outings since 2017.

“It’s always late calls, but every time I have been in the GT3 car I was quick and reliable, so I have no problem with it,” Berthon told Sportscar365. “I can jump from car to car.”

***Audi’s driver selection for Bathurst has been affected by nine factory roster members racing at Magny-Cours this weekend for Round 2 of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup. Two-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner Christopher Mies, 2018 winner Dries Vanthoor, Christopher Haase, Mattia Drudi, Patric Niederhauser, Frederic Vervisch, Dennis Marschall, Charles Weerts and Gilles Magnus are all in France on full-season program duties with customer teams.

***Kenny Habul has stated an intention for his SunEnergy1 Racing team to do the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai next year, as part of a winter program in the Gulf region. “We did the Dubai 24 Hours and made the podium, so we‘ll do that and Abu Dhabi again,” Habul told Sportscar365.

***The Mercedes-AMG that Habul has brought to Bathurst is the one that was heavily damaged in an accident during the Rolex 24 at Daytona. According to Habul, the SunEnergy1 car that did the Joburg Kyalami 9 Hour in February is a different model which is being sent to the U.S. “We have three race cars and they rotate all over the place,” Habul said.

***Craft-Bamboo Racing is not planning to enter the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa but is looking to re-join the IGTC grid for the final two rounds, according to team director Darryl O’Young. “We’re really looking forward to going back to Indy,” he told Sportscar365. “That’s not fully fixed yet, but it’s in our plans.”

***Craft-Bamboo had a chaotic time at Kyalami last December. The team sent its crew to South Africa a few days earlier than its competitors, to allow for extra car preparation time, only for the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant to cause the postponement of the race and travel restrictions. O’Young had to observe a 21-day quarantine upon his return to Hong Kong, while other team members needed to spend two weeks in neighboring countries before flying back home.

***The Dipper corner has been rebranded the Toyota Gazoo Dipper for sponsorship reasons, marking the first such renaming for the 12 Hour. The name was previously used at last year’s Bathurst 1000. A 33-car grid is due to contest the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series support races this weekend.

***Bathurst 12 Hour track action begins on Friday with a total of four practice sessions. The first and third sessions are for Bronze drivers only, while the second and fourth sessions are for all drivers. Practice 1 gets underway at 10 a.m. AEST (8 p.m. Thursday ET). The full event timetable can be viewed here.

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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