Bathurst 12H: V8 Utes set for endurance challenge

Three V8 Utes will take part in the Bathurst 12 Hours for the first time in the endurance race’s history next month.

Two of the machines come straight from the V8 Ute Racing Series. Greg Willis will share his Grove Fruit Juice Ford BF with series rival Jason Gomersall and ex-Formula Vee and saloon cars racer Matthew Mackelden, while 2007 champion Grant Johnson will enter his Holden VE with former V8 Ute racer Allan Letcher and Nathan Callaghan.

Johnson, who has several endurance races under his belt, including the Dubai 24 Hours and Sepang 12 Hours, believes his line-up can compete for class honours in the race and is happy to have competition from Willis, with whom he shared his Ute in last year’s race before crashing out early.

“The more the merrier I say,” he said. “The more cars out there the better quality racing you get, it makes you work harder and aim for higher results.

“Last year we really only raced for two hours before the altercation so if we can finish I think we’ll do really well. We had a test last week and the car is a lot quicker than the normal sprint Ute so we are aiming for a top 5 outright. Between the three of us we worked out we have raced 31 12 hour races, so we’ve got a pretty strong racing combination.”

A third Ute will run in the hands of V8 Ute Series regulars Ben Dunn, Andrew Fisher and Brad Patton. The brand new Ford FG XR8 has entered the race as a development test before the car is introduced to the V8 Ute Series in 2011 as a replacement for the BF model.

“We have fitted the FG out with all of the V8 Ute series components thanks to our partners and it will be interesting to see how competitive it is against the other Utes,” said category manager Craig Denyer.

“Bathurst is the ultimate enduro test, so this will be a great shake down prior to the FG being introduced next year.”

Watch Bathurst 12 Hours highlights on Motors TV (Sky Channel 413, Virgin Media 545).


Andy Wilkinson