Bumper field for Bathurst 12 Hour

A SCAN of the final entry list for the 2015 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour will gladden the hearts of true race fans everywhere with a 55-car entry confirmed – more than twice the size of the field for last October’s Bathurst 1000.

The driver nominations are still firming, but the grid won’t lack star power.

Le Mans winner David Brabham headlines an array of driving talent that also includes works Porsche ace Patrick Long, former F1 drivers Mika Salo (last year’s winner in a Ferrari) and Markus Winkelhock, former British touring car champion Gordon Shedden and a host of the world’s best GT stars, including Laurens Vanthoor and Rene Rast.

Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner will race an Audi R8 LMS with Phoenix Racing.

Three-time 12 Hour winner John Bowe will also return to defend his crown, this year teaming with Brabham and Peter Edwards in the Flying B Racing Bentley Continental GT3.

The quality line-up for the February 8 classic includes 20 international entries and, importantly, the outright GT3 category has attracted 30 cars.

The 30 cars entered in the outright class represent nine of the top GT3 brands, with Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Lamborghini, Audi, Porsche, Nissan, McLaren, Bentley and Aston Martin all entered for a shot at an outright victory.

It is the strongest outright class representation in the history of the Bathurst 12 Hour and an increase on the 2014 line-up, which produced one of the great motor sporting contests in memory.

With 12 entries, Porsche is the most represented brand (thanks to 10 nominations in Class B) while Ferrari has seven 458 GT3s entered in Class A – the most for any one brand in the outright category.

Six Audi R8 LMSs and five Mercedes-Benz SLS AMGs give the German brands plenty of firepower to compete against last year’s Bathurst winner, Ferrari.

Entries have been received from 10 countries, including five from New Zealand, three each from Germany and the United Kingdom, and two from the United States.

A remarkable 43 entries have been accepted for the three GT classes eligible for the race, the largest grid of pure GT cars assembled in Australia.

A further 12 cars will compete in a pair of invitational classes, one for production-based vehicles such as BMW’s 1M and the Audi TT, and another for endurance-racing specials like the Australian-built MARC Focus racers and a pair of unique ex-Grand Am series Mazda RX8s originally from America.

The 2015 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour will start at 5.50am on Sunday, February 8.

For the first time, the entire race will be telecast live around Australia on the Seven Network.

2015 LIQUI-MOLY BATHURST 12 HOUR

Official Entry List