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NEWS
Fiat Abarth takes on the Mountain
Pint sized race cars set to head to Bathurst – and motoring.com.au will be thereFiat and Abarth are planning a David versus Goliath trip to Mt Panorama – and motoring.com.au will be there. But before you jump to conclusions, there are no plans to build a motoring.com.au sponsored Fiat Panda V8Supercar, instead a factory backed team of two Abarth 695 Assetto Corse race cars will take on the world’s fastest GT cars in the 2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-hour.
The race, which takes place in February, features a range of production-based and GT3-spec machinery. In 2014 it will see factory-backed teams from Mercedes-AMG, Nismo and Audi. And now alongside the SLS, GT-R and R8 racers, will be two pint-sized purpose-built Abarths.
The cars are built for both rallying and racing and feature in a one-make series in Europe. They boast 1.4-litre turbocharged engines and SADEV six-speed sequential gearboxes. At just over 900kg, they pack some punch – delivering a better power to weight ratio than many high-performance V8s.
Under the rules of the Mt Panorama race, all cars and drivers must lap within 130 per cent of the fastest qualifier to compete. The cars have already been tested at Phillip Island where in damp conditions they posted times that fit the bill.
The cars are entered in the Bathurst 12-Hour by Fiat Chrysler Australia. The squad will benefit from the experience of Alan Heaphy’s Performance Parts & Engineering (PPE) squad. Two professional drivers have already been enlisted into the team, V8Supercar regular Luke Youlden and, MINI Challenge expert, Paul Stokell. The Abarth pocket rockets will line up in production car category F.
Motoring journalists Josh Dowling, Toby Hagon, Paul Gover and motoring.com.au’s Mike Sinclair will be joining Youlden and Stokell behind the wheel at the 2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour.
Fiat has an almost century-long history in international motor racing and the partnership with high performance specialist Carlo Abarth has become legend and spawned a host of giant killing racing machines and passion-inducing road cars.
Billed as the ultimate Aussie endurance event, the Bathurst 12 Hour was held from 1991 to 1994 and re-established in 2007. Next year’s race will be the 12th instalment and already, more than 40 teams from nine countries have entered the 2014 contest.
The 2014 race has attracted live, free-to-air television coverage for the first time in many years. SBS will screen the final three hours of the race on Sunday, February 9, 2014.
The new team’s specially designed Fiat Abarth Motorsport livery will be unveiled in December.
Picture courtesy of Kobac/Wikimedia Commons.
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Written byCarsales Staff
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