MOTORSPORT: Supercars ace racing for a cause at Bathurst
Thomas Randle joins Kavich brothers for this weekend’s Bathurst 6 Hour enduro in support of breast cancer researchThe tradition of Bathurst motorsport at Easter continues this long weekend (April 7-9) with the 2023 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour, which has attracted a maximum field of 60 cars and about 160 drivers across eight classes.
Among the headline acts for the six-hour endurance race will be Thomas Randle, who will swap his Castrol Ford Mustang Supercar for a BMW M2 Competition, which he’ll share with brothers Ben and Michael Kavich in support of breast cancer research.
The Race for a Cure program was founded by Ben’s wife Toula in 2016 following her own breast cancer diagnosis and since then it has raised close to $130,000 in funding for Breast Cancer Trials.
This year the crew will be looking to improve on its 2022 result, which saw the Kavich brothers place seventh overall and sixth in Class X for Ultimate Performance cars.
For Randle, who overcame testicular cancer in 2021, the campaign supports a worthy initiative.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be racing with Ben and Michael this year, especially supporting a cause that’s particularly close to my heart,” said Randle.
“Hopefully, we can get a great result in the X Class.”
The car will carry support from Yellow Pages, continuing a relationship that dates back to Bathurst 1000 campaigns in the 1980s led by Ben and Michael’s father Tony Kavich.
Competition in the outright class will be stiff, with other top-flight BMW outfits featuring ace drivers. And with the last few outright race winners absent, the battle for the overall win is wide open this year.
Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey, the victorious combination from 2019, will be joined by two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Will Davison in their proven BMW M3.
Meantime, Davison’s DJR teammate Anton De Pasquale will also be in the thick of the action when he lines up alongside Anthony Soole and Adam Burgess in a BMW M4.
Other entries will feature drivers such as David Russell, Jayden Ojeda and Tyler Everingham, with the family team of Wayne, Drew and Aaren Russell one to look out for.
The only HSV GTS in the top tier is the entry of Tony D’Alberto and Duane West.
All told, the capacity field will be split into eight classes of comparable cars, with nine cars each including two members of the same family (including four father and son combinations in the field) and a total of 12 manufacturers represented.
BMW will be the most popular brand with 14 entries, followed by Holden/HSV with 10, Ford with seven, Mazda with five, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen with four, Subaru with three, Toyota with two and Audi, Honda, Lexus and MINI each represented by one car.
Other combinations of note include John Bowe and Aaron McGill in an FPV GT-F, Ben and Jude Bargwanna in an Audi TT RS Plus, and Grant Denyer and Tony Quinn plus his grandson Ryder in a Ford Mustang Mach 1.
And former Supercars and NASCAR ace Marcos Ambrose will return to the track after an eight-year hiatus, when he partners with George Miedecke and Tim Brook in a Mustang GT.
Defending winners in Class A2 (Quinn/Denyer), Class C (Jake Camilleri / Scott Nicholas) and Class E (David Wooler) all return in a bid to claim a rare Bathurst back-to-back.
Among the competitors looking to defend their class victories from last year is Mike Sheargold, who won Class A1 in both 2021 and 2022 in his Mercedes AMG A 45.
No driver has ever won their class three times – let alone three times in a row – in Bathurst 6 Hour history.
On the undercard this weekend will be the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS and featuring a host of GT3 machinery, Australian Production Cars now including GT4-spec racers, MRF Pulsar Cup and Circuit Excels.
The 2023 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour – round two of the Shannons SpeedSeries – will be broadcast live on Saturday (Stan Sport / Nine Network) and Sunday (Stan Sport), and streamed online at SpeedSeries TV.
The big race starts at 11:45am AEST on Easter Sunday morning and tickets remain available online via the event website.
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