The Bathurst 12-hour this Sunday (February 8) is Australia’s longest, toughest motor race – and DPO will be on the grid with a real chance of victory.
DPO will be represented by Nathan Morcom, co-driving one of two Mercedes AMG SLS GT3 cars fielded by Erebus Racing in the annual ‘race round the clock’ enduro. Nathan and fellow young guns Simon Hodge and American Tim Cindric will take turns driving the the German supercar, which is powered by a 6.3-litre V8 engine and features distinctive upward-opening ‘gull-wing’ doors.
Although it will be Nathan’s Bathurst 12-hour debut, he’s no stranger to the daunting 6.2km Mt Panorama public road circuit or GT sports car racing. He holds the qualifying record for Formula 3 openwheeler cars with a lap fractionally faster than the GT3 record. And he contested the German ADAC Masters Championship last year in a Porsche GT3 car.
Nathan is confident of being a contender in the 12-hour, which features the strongest field since the format changed to exotic GT3 sports cars in 2011. He was impressed by the Mercedes in a test day at the Phillip Island circuit last month – especially its grip on high-speed corners like Lukey Heights.
“The Mercedes has more power and aero downforce than the Porsche I drove in the German GT3 series last year,” he said. “At Phillip Island I only did a few laps at racing speed because we were bedding in brakes and other things for Bathurst, but I could drive it over Lukey Heights like a Formula 3!”
For the first time the entire race, which starts at 5.50am on Sunday, will be broadcast live free-to-air TV in Australia on the 7 Network. It will also be live streamed worldwide on the race website.
DPO Managing Director Barry Morcom said the Bathurst 12-hour is second only to the 1000km V8 Supercar race on the Australian domestic motorsport calendar, in terms of public interest.
“The 12-hour has been growing year-by-year since it changed to GT3, with bigger fields and more international teams and drivers,” Barry said. “This year’s race has 52 entries with more than a dozen top overseas teams, including factory or factory-assisted entries from Bentley, Nissan and Ferrari. The live free-to-air TV coverage puts it right up there with the ‘1000’.
“Erebus won in 2013 and placed third last year, so Nathan, Simon and Tim have a good opportunity to show the rest the ‘Way to Go with DPO’!”
Nathan (centre) and his two co-drivers will take turns behind the wheel during the Bathurst 12-hour race.
[Good Publicity photo]