MOTORSPORT: Bathurst wildcard entry one to watch

There is a long history of foreign drivers in the Bathurst 1000, although not so much in recent times.

But the controversial 1987 Great Race, more than a quarter of a century ago, was even part of a World Touring Car Championship.

There is only one wholly-international driver line-up for this Sunday’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 – Englishman Andy Priaulx and Swede Mattias Ekstrom.

They will be driving a locally-built V8 Supercar – indeed the Holden VF Commodore that was Roland Dane’s dominant team Triple Eight Race Engineering’s ‘Car of the Future’ mule last year but has never been raced.

It is a wildcard entry, a 29th starter in a field that at all other championship rounds has only 28 cars.

It’s a pity there aren’t several other wildcards like it with top international drivers to restore the Bathurst entry list to what it was pre-V8 Supercars but without the speed discrepancies between competitors.

But Australian motorsport fans ought be thankful for this one, because it could be something pretty special.

Not only is the Commodore from the workshop of the benchmark team but it will be engineered by Dane’s technical director Ludo Lacroix, the Frenchman who perhaps more than any other has set Triple Eight apart from – that is, ahead of – its rivals.

And Priaulx and Ekstrom are absolute top-notch racers.

The deal has been put together by V8 Supercar’s ‘Mr Everything’, Mark Skaife, with sponsorship from Xbox One.

Skaife has plenty of critics within V8 Supercars, and there is some unhappiness about his involvement in this project, but it will put on the grid the type of entry the Great Race needs, especially for its status in international motor racing circles.

Ekstrom is completely new to V8 Supercars but he is a two-time champion in the DTM, the German touring car series for higher-tech V8s, as well as a three-time winner of the annual end-of-year International Race of Champions, in which he has repeatedly upstaged Formula One’s most successful driver Michael Schumacher.

Priaulx is a three-time world touring car champion with experience of earlier V8 Supercars. He has had 10 race starts in Australia, including three at Bathurst.

While the Australians and New Zealanders who drive V8 Supercars regularly have a head start on this international pair, Priaulx and Ekstrom are not to be ruled out of calculations at Mt Panorama over the next few days.

They are incredibly quick and versatile -- and having Lacroix in their corner could be a trump card.

He is reverting for this one week to the role of race engineer on a single car rather the far greater responsibility of technical director of a big team carrying the expectations that come with outright favoritism.

“The plan is for me to be just on this car and only be in the Red Bull garage if there is a problem,” Lacroix said.

Priaulx and Ekstrom tested the Xbox Commodore at Queensland Raceway late last week.

Priaulx said V8 Supercars were “quite tough” to drive but that the ‘Car of the Future’ incarnation was “a little bit more nimble” than those he had raced before, dating back more than a decade.

The pair take confidence from Triple Eight having the top two cars in the V8 Supercar Championship, driven by Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes – who will be partnered by endurance race-winning co-drivers Paul Dumbrell and Warren Luff again this week.

“We don’t have to question the Triple Eight package, so we can concentrate on our driving, getting up to speed, getting the rhythm and making sure we’re good with our procedure,” Priaulx said.

Ekstrom said the Holden’s pushrod engine’s power was “very impressive – plenty more than what I’m used to” as a long-time Audi driver in the DTM.

“This car has less downforce, the tyres are different and I am not so accustomed to sitting on the right side,” Ekstrom said.

“My first impression is that the track, for sure, is one of the greatest (in the world).

“But the only way to make a (top) result is for everything to be on the top level.

“It’s not going to be easy to be on the pace of Jamie Whincup, but you can be sure we are going to try.”

Priaulx’s Australian experience is keeping his expectations realistic but he admitted that “we have the potential to be strong”.

Image: V8supercars.com.au

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