Global drivers ready to tackle The Mountain

The Supercheap Auto Bathurst International is ready to race and drivers from all over the world will be unleashed on Mount Panorama’s famous 6.213km of tarmac tomorrow.

Drivers from seven different nations including Australia, New Zealand, United States of America, France, Malaysia, Italy and Germany, plus 29 brands featured across seven different categories will make the three-day event a global affair.

The Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series will have a French flavour with Teddy Clariet coming to town driving a Peugeot 308 TCR.

Teddy Clariet will be a French driver behind the wheel of a French car at Bathurst this weekend. Image: Daniel Kalisz

The two-time French Touring Cars title winner and current TCR Europe racer will be driving a fifth Garry Rogers Motorsport entry and said his first impressions of Bathurst are promising.

“It’s a great place. I’m enjoying being here. I love the atmosphere and I’m looking forward to the weekend,” he said.

“It’s an impressive track. Lots of blind corner. It seems fast and really tricky. I have a lot of respect for this track and I will try and do the best for myself.

“The TCR World Tour is coming next year. It’s a great idea, and this is certainly a place that this championship has to go. This is a wonderful place. It will be important for the World Tour to come to this track. Everyone knows Bathurst, and if you are doing an international touring cars race, you have to do it here.”

The Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS Endurance title is up for grabs at The Mountain this weekend and some Malaysian royalty is one of the contenders.

Prince Jefri Ibrahim will be behind the wheel of a Triple Eight Race Engineering Mercedes alongside Supercars rookie Broc Feeney and needs to fend off Brad Schumacher to claim the prize.

Prince Jefri Ibrahim will be eyeing the GT World Challenge Australia Endurance title at Bathurst this weekend. Image: Daniel Kalisz

Ibrahim said he is always taken aback by the history surrounding Mount Panorama.

“It is really awesome to be back here at Mt Panorama,” he said.

“The last time I raced here was in the 12 Hour and to be back in Bathurst is just a different feeling every time you are here. 

“It is such an awesome track, full of history and cool cars running around, so I really can’t wait for the event.

“With the GT Endurance championship, first of all, I have to just try to win the race. If we do that, then it is a bonus. 

“I am not too focused on the championship, I want to just have a good race, try to be fast out there and hopefully do the best I can.

“I think it is crucial to get as many laps as I can before the next 12 Hour. Bathurst especially as it is only available to us a few times of the year. 

“I am trying to make the most out it and learn as much as I can … and hopefully improve.”

Young gun Robert Noaker has put the American Trans Am world on notice by recording two top five finishes in his rookie season.

Young American Robert Noaker is ready to take on The Mountain this weekend. Image: Supplied

But Bathurst will be a different challenge, with Noaker an international wildcard in the Turtle Wax Trans Am 100 and the teenager is already blown away by the track’s famous characteristics.

“Mount Panorama is something else. It’s a type of track I have never experience in my life,” said Noaker.

“I’ve done two track walks, and the second time was just as shocking as the first. There’s no other track on the planet that is like this. The difficulty, the length of it, the turns, the walls. It one heck of a track.

“I’ve done a bunch of sim laps, but that isn’t going to equate to much once you get on track.

“There is just so much to it, so forget conquering it. It will take enough just to get around one lap. Every race will be about consistency and building up. I wasn’t to finish every single race, have I’m really looking forward to it.

“Compared to some American tracks, I can see some similarities to VIR (Virginia International Raceway) with the esses going up the hill, but that track has nothing on the elevation that this place has.

“I’d like to say that Bathurst is a combination of VIR and Laguna Seca, but with walls all around the place. And then you have the animals that can venture onto the track too.”