Two M6 GT3s to tackle the other great race, as well as a pair of non-factory Nissan GT-Rs.
What a big week it was for sportscar race fans with two local teams each announcing two-car attacks on the Liqui-Moly 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour race, set for the first weekend in February.
Steve Richards’ local GT team has confirmed it will double its firepower for the popular enduro, expanding to include a second BMW M6 GT3.
And the Sydney-based Hobson Motorsport has confirmed it has purchased two Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 cars from the US to campaign in the 12 Hour.
Richards’ has contested this year’s Australian GT season with a lone M6 GT3, and now his BMW Team SRM outfit will add the second Munchen rocket for a two-pronged attack marking the first time in two decades that a factory-supported BMW team has raced at Bathurst.
The Brett Hobson team Nissans will be run and prepared by Wall Racing, which will have a major operation at Mount Panorama, running the two GT-Rs and same pair of Class B Porches it fielded this year.
Hobson and Wall are set to get their hands on the two GT-Rs in December. Most recently the machines have been part of a Nissan-backed effort at the Pirelli World Challenge – one that includes Aussie driver James Davison.
A Nissan GT-R GT3 won the 2015 edition of the Bathurst 12 Hour.
The 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour coincides with the 20th anniversary of BMW’s greatest triumph at Mount Panorama, Geoff and David Brabham winning the 1997 Bathurst 1000 in a BMW Motorsport Australia 320i super tourer.
Shut out of local touring car due to the restrictive rules of V8 Supercar racing, BMW has been forced to bide its time for a return.
Driver line-ups across the two M6 GT3s will be finalised and announced closer to the event.
Of course, BMW brand has already landed privateer 12-Hour success, with Craig Baird, Garry Holt, and Paul Morris teaming up to win the 2007 Bathurst 12 Hour in a BMW 335i. Two years later Holt, Morris, and John Bowe won the event again.
Chaz Mostert and Nathan Morcom won the 2016 Bathurst 6 Hour in a BMW 335i E92.
Richards himself has been very successful at Mount Panorama too, winning the Bathurst 1000 four times, the most recent victory coming alongside Craig Lowndes last year. Richards is also a Bathurst 24 Hour winner, winning the short-lived endurance race with Garth Tander, Nathan Pretty, and Cameron McConville in 2002.
Both the BMW Team SRM and Hobson Nissan driver line-ups are yet to be announced.
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