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VAN GISBERGEN TO DO DOUBLE-DUTY AT BATHURST

Shane van Gisbergen to double-duty at Bathurst - Image: LAT

By Heath McAlpine

After previously being confirmed to race in the Bathurst 6 Hour, undefeated Supercars driver Shane van Gisbergen will also make his return to GT racing this weekend.

The Kiwi was unable to compete in the inaugural GT World Challenge Australia round at Phillip Island after breaking his collarbone in a mountain bike crash earlier this month.

Supercars teammate Jamie Whincup stood-in for the Kiwi at Phillip Island partnering Prince Jefri Ibrahim in Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 to second outright.

Van Gisbergen will renew his partnership with Ibrahim after completing a number of rounds in 2019 of the GT World Challenge Asia Series.

“I’m really excited to get back into our GT car,” said van Gisbergen.

“Unfortunately I missed the first round in Phillip Island, but any time you get to drives laps around Bathurst is awesome, especially in a GT car which is always cool. I’m really looking forward to it.

“I’ve been working a fair bit with Iman (Prince Jefri), especially on the simulator and track days at Norwell Motorplex, and even did some races with other cars on track so he can got a feel for everything.

“There’s nothing you can do to prepare yourself for Bathurst other than race laps, which is going to be the hardest thing.”

Another new addition is former Supercars driver and previous Porsche Carrera Cup Australia winner David Wall, who partners Adrian Deitz in the latter’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

In all, 18-cars are entered for the second round including series leaders Yasser Shahin and Garth Tander after a dominating display at Phillip Island, winning both contests in the Melbourne Performance Centre Audi R8 GT3 LMS.

Chaz Mostert again partners with Tony Bates in a second MPC Audi, while the Grove father-son team complete the Pro-Am field.

Also in an Audi, Arthur Abrahams leads the Am Class after the opening round with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Tony Quinn, plus the IMAK Lamborghini Huracan GT3 shared by Andrew MacPherson and Ben Porter.

Joining the Am battle for Bathurst is another Audi to be driven by the experienced Marc Cini.

Brad Schumacher leads Trophy in his older-spec Audi, but will face stiff competition not only from the Nissan GT-R GT3 of Brett Hobson, but two new Mercedes-AMG GT3s for former Audi competitors Nick Kelly and Vince Muriti.

GT World Challenge Australia will contest two one-hour races across the Bathurst 6 Hour weekend.

To find more information on the weekend of events, pick up Auto Action 1807 containing the official Bathurst 6 Hour program.

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