Optimum to Make Bathurst Debut With Pro McLaren Entry

Optimum Motorsport will make its Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour debut with a single-car McLaren entry, bringing the British marque back to the top class of the Australian enduro for the first time since 2020.

The Wakefield-based squad will contest the Intercontinental GT Challenge season opener with a Pro effort, with Garnet Patterson, Ben Barnicoat and Marvin Kirchhoefer forming the driver lineup aboard the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

“Everyone at Optimum Motorsport is delighted to confirm our entry into next year’s Bathurst 12 Hours,” said team principal Shaun Goff.

“It’s a race we’ve been keen to do fora long time, and with our rapid pro lineup I know we can take the battle for the victory to the teams that have won it before.”

Optimum’s entry into the Bathurst 12H comes exactly a decade after McLaren took its sole victory at the event, which occurred when Alvaro Parente, Jonathon Webb and Shane van Gisbergen triumphed in a Tekno Autosports-entered 650S GT3.

Although McLaren has been represented at Mount Panorama by Method Motorsport’s GT4 effort in recent years, the brand has been absent from the GT3 category since 2020.

That year, 59Racing entered a pair of cars, with Barnicoat notably forming part of a Pro entry that finished second overall only behind the winning Bentley Continental GT3.

Barnicoat then left McLaren after a four-year stint as a factory driver at the end of 2021 and moved to Lexus ahead of a successful tenure in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

However, he has sporadically still raced for McLaren in championships such as GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, Asian Le Mans Series and the British GT Championship.

“It’s hard to put into words how excited I am to be back at the Mountain,” said Barnicoat.

“It’s my favourite track in the world and definitely one of the most iconic sportscar events there is.

“I’m extremely grateful to Optimum for presenting me with this opportunity, and to Lexus for allowing me to say yes!”

“We have a fantastic lineup in Garnet, Marvin and myself, we all have Bathurst experience and plenty of time behind the wheel of the 720S which are key ingredients in making this trip down under an exciting one.

“February can’t come soon enough!” ‍

Similarly to Barnicoat, Kirchhoefer also has an overall podium finish at Bathurst to his name dating back to 2019, while Australian native Patterson joins the lineup after a year of racing McLaren machinery with United Autosports in the European Le Mans Series.