Porsche launches its Title Defence Mission in the Intercontinental GT Challenge at Bathurst, Australia this weekend at the Bathurst 12 Hour.
This year marks the 18th running of the 12-hour race at the Mount Panorama Circuit in the Australian state of New South Wales. The endurance classic was first contested in 1991.
In 2019 Porsche claimed the IGTC titles in the manufacturers’ and drivers’ classifications. The gruelling twelve-hour race (January 31 to February 2) traditionally marks the start of the most important championship for GT3 sports cars. In the race at Mount Panorama, five Porsche 911 GT3 R face strong opposition from vehicles from ten other manufacturers. Last year, Porsche won the long-distance event at Bathurst for the first time in its history thanks to the customer squad EBM (Earl Bamber Motorsport).
The Porsche teams and drivers
At the event Down Under, four Porsche customer teams compete with a total of five Porsche 911 GT3 R. As last year’s winners, EBM, the team of Porsche works driver Earl Bamber, tackles the race with the starting number one.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to take part in this event as a team,” commented Bamber. “Our victory last year was unbelievable, of course. To return as last year’s winners for Porsche is something special. As a driver, as always, it’ll be great to work alongside Laurens. We had a lot of success in America last year. We’re both really excited to have a legendary guy like Craig join us in the team. He’s one of the most successful Bathurst drivers on the grid.”
Sharing the wheel of the 911 are the two reigning champions of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Earl Bamber (New Zealand) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) as well as the Australian motorsport legend Craig Lowndes.
In the No. 12 vehicle fielded by NED Racing Team are Porsche works driver Romain Dumas (France), Porsche Junior Jaxon Evans (New Zealand) and David Calvert-Jones (Australia).
Absolute Racing campaign two vehicles: Porsche works driver Matt Campbell (Australia) shares driving duties in the No. 911 car with the two Frenchmen Mathieu Jaminet and Patrick Pilet. Porsche works driver Dirk Werner (Germany) and Porsche Young Professional Thomas Preining (Austria) team up with Matteo Cairoli (Italy) in the No. 912 contender. Grove Racing tackles the event with Stephen Grove (Australia), his son Brenton Grove, and Ben Barker (Great Britain).
The schedule
The event at Bathurst begins with the free practice this coming Friday. In the qualifying session on Saturday, drivers will battle for the best grid spots. Traditionally, the race takes off on Sunday, 2 February, before dawn at 5.45am local time (Saturday, 7.45pm CET). The entire race can be watched live on https://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/.
Comments