MOTORSPORT: A very cosmopolitan Bathurst

Round-the-clock battle is wide open
Sunday’s Bathurst 12-Hour will be the most international event in Australian circuit racing history other than a Formula One grand prix. More international, in fact, than almost two decades of Indy races on the streets of Surfers Paradise, three years of the Gold Coast 600, or the 1987 World Touring Car Championship round at Bathurst.

Twenty brands of cars and drivers of 17 nationalities will be among the 50 entries on the grid at Mt Panorama at 7am Sunday.

Audi is chasing a hat-trick in this 'Other Bathurst', with seven of its R8s in the field (but none with full factory backing this time). But Mercedes-Benz is out to stop that and take the chequered flag first itself with Erebus Motorsport’s pair of SLS Gullwings.

Three Ferrari 458s and a BMW Z4 also are in contention for outright honours.

After a second place in last year’s 12-Hour, Erebus and Mercedes-Benz’s AMG Customer Sports offshoot have gone all out to topple Audi this time. The squad will field a top international line-up in one SLS – led by German touring and sports car legend Bernd Schneider (partnered by Thomas Jaeger and Alex Roloff) – and a top local combination of V8 Supercar drivers Tim Slade and Lee Holdsworth with Erebus regular, Peter Hackett, in the other.

Audi has a top local trio too - Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff (who came close to victory in 2011 and 2008) and ’09 12-Hour winner Rod Salmon – as well as an array of international talent. The Audi R8 driver line-ups include two-time winners, Christoper Mies of Germany and Darryl O’Young of Hong Kong and Canada, as well as reigning world touring car champion, Briton Rob Huff.

A Ferrari set the pace in the 12-Hour last year before fuel and electronics issues and the 458 driven by John Bowe, former F1 ace and Gold Coast 600 winner Mika Salo, Allan Simonsen and Peter Edwards gives the Prancing Horse its best hope this time.

The darkhorse could be Engstler Motorsport’s BMW Z4 with an all-international line-up.

“There are probably half a dozen combinations that are a real chance of winning this year,” Luff said of the field that is twice as big as last year, with 18 cars in the GT3 outright class and seven other classes.

The entry list, which includes about a quarter of the V8 Supercar field, is here.

The first hour of the race will double as the first round of the 2013 Australian GT Championship.

The weather forecast is for near-perfect conditions. The race will be streamed live on www.bathurst12hour.com.au, with a three-hour TV package next Sunday (February 17) on SBS.

Euro fills seat Van Gisbergen gave up
The V8 Supercar seat Shane Van Gisbergen vacated at Stone Brothers Racing/Erebus Motorsport has finally been filled – by 27-year-old Monaco-based German, Maro Engel.

Engel tested one of Stone Brothers’ 2012 Ford Falcons last December and will front at the V8 Supercar pre-season official test day at Sydney Motorsport Park next Saturday (February 16), when the AMG Mercedes-Benz E63s will be on track in public for the first time.

Engel was a Mercedes factory driver in the DTM (German Touring Car Championship) for four years and got the Stones/Erebus seat after a deal could not be struck for Ford development series driver Chaz Mostert to replace Van Gisbergen.

While Ross Stone, the remaining partner from the Stone Brothers team staying on this season with Erebus, was furious that Van Gisbergen resurfaced with Jonathon Webb’s Holden team Tekno Autosports (after the young Kiwi was to have taken a year off), Engel’s recruitment makes it increasingly likely that any legal action against Van Gisbergen will be to seek compensation rather than prevent him racing.

Engel is the second full-time European driver in V8 Supercars along with Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Frenchman Alex Premat. The German won his Australian race debut, in the Australian GT Champinship at Victoria’s Phillip Island last year, in one of the Erebus Gullwings.

Engel said he anticipated “a steep learning curve” in V8 Supercars.

“I’m definitely coming over to be successful, however, this will take some time,” he said.

Meanwhile, Van Gisbergen is sharing a Porsche in the Bathurst 12-Hour with father and son team, Tony and Klark Quinn.

Four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy is a late inclusion in the 12-Hour, slotting into the 7-litre Chevrolet Corvette Z06.R in place of Rod Wilson. One of Murphy’s co-drivers is Italian ex-F1 racer, Ivan Capelli.

Murphy also has been confirmed as an endurance co-driver for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 in the spring with his original Australian touring car outfit, Holden Racing Team.

It is not known yet whether he will partner Garth Tander or James Courtney.

V8SCA claims Holden’s new VF Commodore, Ford’s FG Falcon, Nissan’s as-yet-unreleased (as a road car) Altima L33 and the new-look E63 AMG Mercedes are “within 0.5 per cent of each other” after six days of aero testing at the Royal Australian Air Force Base at East Sale in Victoria.

It claimed the parity would ensure “the most fair and equitable competition we have ever seen” in the 28-car field.

Meantime, we have heard a whisper that Dick Johnson Racing has found fresh financial support that ensures the country’s oldest touring car team will take its place in the championship.

Retired V8 Supercar driver Cameron McConville will be the series driving standards observer, in place of Tomas Mezera – who is concentrating on his career in seniors golf! McConville has previously done a similar role for the Porsche Carrera Cup and will be the race director for that series this year.

His move into officialdom has forced McConville to quit as a V8 Supercar endurance co-driver.

Webber and Ricciardo give thumbs up to new F1 cars
Australians Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo have been at the pointy end in the first two days of F1 testing at Jerez in Spain.

Webber, in the Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull RB9, was second fastest on the opening day behind Brit Jenson Button in the new McLaren-Mercedes, the MP4-28. Riccardo, in Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso’s STR8, was fifth of the 11 drivers on the track on the first day and third of 12 last night – and ahead of Webber, who was fourth.

Webber has done the most laps of any driver – more than 100 on the second day – and reported that the RB9 “feels pretty good”.

He is to drive an older Red Bull F1 car at Sydney Motorsport Park on March 9-10 – the weekend before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne – in what is being billed as “the Australian speed showdown” against Casey Stoner on a Honda CBR1000RR roadbike and Jamie Whincup in a Holden V8 Supercar at the Top Gear Festival.

The new F1 Lotus, the E21, was fastest on day two at Jerez, in the hands of Frenchman Romain Grosjean, with Scotsman Paul Di Resta next in the latest Mercedes-powered Force India, the VJM06.

The Mercedes factory team has had a bad start, with Nico Rosberg doing only 14 laps on day one before its W04 ground to a halt, smoking from an electrical problem.

On day two Lewis Hamilton, who has replaced Michael Schumacher at Mercedes, careered into a barrier after a brake failure – and after just 15 laps. While the W04 did not make it back on track Hamilton dismissed it as “all part of testing – these things happen”.

“My general feeling as very positive,” he said.

Ricciardo, who has headed Felipe Massa in Ferrari’s F138 both days, said he was quite happy so far with the car for his second full season in F1.

“I think we can be satisfied,” Ricciardo said.

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site…