Mercedes-AMG Reveals Bathurst 12H Driver Lineups

Mercedes-AMG has revealed the driver lineups for its ten-strong fleet for next month’s Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour.

The Stuttgart marque has the largest presence of any manufacturer for the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener on Feb. 13-15, although it originally had 11 cars listed when the first draft of the entry list was revealed last month.

Craft-Bamboo Racing, which had previously revealed plans to expand to two entries, will now only be entering a single Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo GT3 in the Pro class.

The Hong Kong-flagged team’s sole remaining car, No. 77, will be driven by two members of its 2025 lineup, Lucas Auer and Maxi Goetz, plus Ralf Aron, who makes his Bathurst 12H debut.

That car will wear a special white-and-black livery paying tribute to the popular ‘Initial D’ manga and anime franchise, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

Jayden Ojeda, who raced for Craft-Bamboo last year, moves across to join new Mercedes-AMG Performance team Tigani Motorsport in its No. 6 car together with Fabian Schiller and Phillip Ellis, who returns to Bathurst for the first time since 2023.

75 Express and GruppeM will both go into this year’s race with unchanged lineups.

Kenny Habul is joined again by Jules Gounon and Luca Stolz in the No. 75 car, while Maro Engel, Mikael Grenier and Maxime Martin return in the No. 888 car.

The two remaining Pro cars in the Mercedes-AMG stable, from Grove Racing (Kai Allen/Will Davison/Brenton Grove) and Scott Taylor Motorsport (Chaz Mostert/Thomas Randle/Cameron Waters), had already announced their lineups previously.

In the Pro-Am class, the Tigani-run No. 44 Geyer Valmont car will be driven by Scott Andrews, Brendon Leitch, Sergio Pires and Marcel Zalloua, with Leitch joining the outfit ahead of his GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS campaign with the team.

GWR Australia/RAM Motorsport’s No. 45 car, meanwhile, will be shared by Brett Hobson, Dylan O’Keeffe, Mike Sheargold and Garth Walden.

In the Bronze class, Zach Bates and David Russell will join the Koundouris brothers, James and Theo, aboard the Supabarn Supermarkets-branded No. 47 Tigani car.

Heart of Racing by SPS has only one confirmed driver for its No. 27 car in the form of team boss Ian James.

Stefan Wendl, Mercedes-AMG’s head of customer racing, commented: “The Bathurst 12 Hour is one of the most important races on the international GT calendar.

“With ten Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars – including six vehicles in the Pro class – we will once again field the largest brand entry on the grid in 2026, underlining the strength and appeal of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 for our customer racing teams worldwide.

“The Mount Panorama Circuit is one of the most technically demanding tracks in GT racing and places the highest demands on the car, the team and the drivers.

“Our goal is clear: we want to fight for overall victory once again at the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.”