The grid for the 2022 Bathurst 12 Hour has received a late boost as the 13-15 May race approaches. Round 1 one of the 2022 SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) will mainly see national entries with the occasional international GT driver sprinkled throughout.

The entered car count has now reached 20 cars – with 75 percent being GT3 entries: twelve Pro-Am outright GT3 entries, three Am GT3s, three Invitational cars (including a new KTM X-Bow GT2) and two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars are participating in this year’s COVID-19-affected race. It is a testament to the work of the race organisers and the allure of Mount Panorama itself that a strong GT3-based grid has been assembled on a short timeframe while being subject to clashes with major European sportscar racing series. The race also forms the second round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS.

The official first entry list can be found here.

As previously covered, the 2022 event will feature Pro-Am line-ups and increased night running as a revised date caused by COVID-19 has shifted it from its usual early February date.

Local Audi partner Audi Sport Customer Racing Australia (Melbourne Performance Centre) had announced six entries and has now confirmed driver line-ups for the first three cars.

The first three combinations confirmed include the #9 Hallmarc Property Group Audi, the #47 Supabarn Supermarkets car and the #65 CoinSpot Audi.

The #9 car will be driven by experienced GT and Porsche racer Marc Cini, Lee Holdsworth and Dean Fiore.

Cini is a veteran of nine 12 Hour starts at Mount Panorama – with a best finish of fifth outright – while Fiore and Holdsworth are also hugely experienced having made five and seven starts, respectively.

Holdsworth claimed his first Bathurst victory last December at the 1000 driving for Walkinshaw Andretti United and has since returned to full-time Supercars competition with Grove Racing.

Canberra brothers James and Theo Koundouris will draw on the Bathurst experience of David Russell aboard their #47 Audi R8 GT3, the latter having finished on the podium of the 2021 Bathurst 1000 with Erebus Motorsport.

Triple Australian Drivers’ Champion Paul Stokell will also drive the Supabarn entry.

2022 will mark the seventh time that the Koundouris brothers will have raced together in the 12 Hour – their campaigns including a win in the GT3 Am class in 2018, and a Class B victory in 2015 while driving a Porsche.

Russell also has a wealth of 12 Hour experience – this year marks his tenth start – including spectacularly qualifying a Lamborghini on the front row in 2015.

Finally, the CoinSpot Audi driven by Liam Talbot and Fraser Ross will draw on the experience of Chaz Mostert as their Pro driver.

Talbot and Mostert joined forces to win the opening race of the 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS season at Phillip Island, while Ross gained valuable laps at the Australian Grand Prix aboard their car as a high-speed chauffeur for corporate guests.

All three have made their mark at the 12 Hour in previous years: Talbot won the Am class in 2017 driving a Porsche 911 GT3R, finishing fourth outright in the process.

Ross won the Silver category in 2020 aboard a McLaren 720S GT3, while Mostert is a former Allan Simonsen Pole Position award winner, claiming the top spot for BMW in 2018.

All three cars will be in 2022 Evo specification.

Two more Mercedes-AMG GT3s will join the field via two newly announced entries.

Mark Griffith has brought in two racing driver mates to join him in an exciting Bathurst 12 Hour campaign this year in an AMG GT3 shared with current Erebus Motorsport Supercars stars – full-timer Will Brown and his Bathurst 1000 co-driver, Jack Perkins.

The trio will steer Griffith’s Daimler Trucks Australia-supported Mercedes-AMG GT3 this year in what has emerged as another strong contender in the outright Pro-Am class ranks.

All three drivers have long histories racing together with Griffith supporting both Brown and Perkins throughout their racing careers.  Griffith has previously entered the race in Mercedes equipment with a similar machine in the 2018 edition.

Lastly, an additional AMG GT3 has been entered in the Am class for Valmont Racing. Regulars in the Australian Porsche Carrera Cup series, the team is making to a jump to GT3 competition with the driver combination of Sydney-based racers Marcel Zalloua and Sergio Pires. They will be joined by Porsche Carrera Cup frontrunner and Bathurst race veteran Duvashen Padayachee.

“Sergio and I decided that post-COVID we were going to maximise our time in the race car by going endurance racing together at any possible opportunity, and that has built to us entering the 12 Hour this year,” Zalloua said.

“Moving on from battling each other on the racetrack in the Porsches was a big call – we had never finished an endurance race together prior to 2022.

“It’s a big jump for both of us seeing as we have had minimal running in a high aero GT3 car, but we can’t wait.”

The pair will race in the name of two charities at the 12 Hour this year.

The first is the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation, working in conjunction with members from the City Tattersalls Corporate Concierge.

Valmont Racing’s Bathurst entry served as a rallying point for the group, who have since gone on to raise more than AU$30,000 – before the race even begins.

The second charity supported by the squad will be Sony Foundation’s ‘You Can Stay’ program, which provides uncapped emergency accommodation for regional youth cancer patients aged 15-25, and their families, who are required to travel to major cities for life-saving treatment.  

In addition to these new cars, SRO has announced that only one nominated car per manufacturer is eligible to score points for the Intercontinental GT Challenge to counter issues for other manufacturers that are unable to get a car entered into the race. This was done to minimise the impact of non-attendance from other manufacturers before the European and American legs of the IGTC. So far only Audi and Mercedes-AMG are represented for the Bathurst round of the IGTC.

 
 

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