Iconic Coca-Cola Wayne Gardner Racing tribute livery revealed for 2022 Bathurst 1000
The #22 PremiAir Coca-Cola Racing Commodore ZB to be driven by Chris Pither and Super2 regular Cameron Hill in this year’s Bathurst 1000 will carry a striking livery that celebrates the iconic brands past Bathurst assaults.
The new livery is a tribute to the Coca-Cola Commodore VR that Wayne Gardner and Neil Crompton took to a podium finish in the Great Race in 1995.
Gardner and Crompton were teammates across four seasons, pairing up for the Bathurst 1000 in Coca-Cola Commodores each year from 1994 to 1997.
The pairing finished third together in 1995, fourth in 1996 and were leading the race in 1997 when the engine in the #7 Commodore let go at Forrest’s Elbow.
“When it came to deciding what car and team to honour for this year’s Bathurst, we couldn’t go past Wayne Gardner and Neil Crompton’s #7 Coca-Cola car,” Chris Pither said.
“It is a truly iconic car, instantly recognisable, and of course, it obviously has a lot of synergy for us being backed by Coca-Cola.
“I am very happy with the look, and I can’t wait to see what we can do while flying these colours at the Great Race this year.”
“The livery is equal parts striking and nostalgic and is a very fitting tribute to the #7 Coca-Cola that we saw flying around Mount Panorama in ’95 with Wayne Gardner and Neil Crompton behind the wheel,” Pither concluded.
While Pither has competed in several Bathurst enduros it will be the first Great Race start for rookie Cam Hill. Hill has been a front runner in this year’s Dunlop Super2 Series with 888 Race Engineering.
“We can’t wait to see it in action this October,” Lyndon Hunter, National Partnerships Manager at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said in the media release.
1987 World 500cc Motorcycle Champion Wayne Gardner established his own Coca-Cola-backed Commodore touring car team in Mona Vale, Sydney in 1994, after purchasing Bob Forbes’ existing team that had run a single GIO-backed car for Neil Crompton in 1993.
Gardner closed WGR at the end of that season and sold off most of the cars and equipment, although he retained a single Commodore run under the Coca-Cola banner in selected events in 1998. He drove a Coca-Cola-backed, Perkins Engineering-prepared VT Commodore in marque V8 Supercar events in 1999, the last of which was Bathurst that November.
Pre-race preparations for the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000 are in full swing in PremiAir Racing’s new state-of-the-art headquarters on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
