Bathurst 12H: Event newsletter 2010-01-28

Armor All Pole Award Up for Grabs

As the build up to the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour Showroom Enduro (February 12 -- 14) continues, the official naming rights partner Armor All, manufacturer of some of the World's top car care products, will also include the Armor All Pole Position Award for the second consecutive year.

The Armor All Pole Position Award will be a highly sought after trophy during qualifying on Saturday February 13th with the winning team securing a $5,000 bonus, courtesy of the naming rights partner.

"As part of the naming rights deal we decided to include a healthy prize for the Armor All Pole award, which gives the drivers a nice bonus on top of their top grid position," said Armor All Marketing Manager, Paul Blair.

In 2009 Superbarn Supermarkets team of James and Theo Koundouris and Steve Owen took out the Award in their Mitsubishi Evo 9 RS in a time of 2:28:88 and are looking to regain the title again after a disappointing end to their race with the car only finishing 61 laps due to a broken gear box.

"We lost 5th gear and were trying to keep going in fourth, which ultimately blew the engine but it was the gear box that started everything.

"We've hopefully sorted all of our gearbox issues and it will be good to get out there and try and finish the race.

"I think we'll go a lot faster than last year. We have the experience up our belt now and the car is looking good. We just had a test day at Eastern creek and made a few adjustments to the car and its going fast, it just all depends on how fast the other teams are," said Superbarn Supermarkets team member, Steve Owen.

Before retiring, the team clocked the second fastest lap time behind 2009 overall runner-up West Surfing Products Team of Glyn Crimp, Tony Ricciardello and Stuart Kostera who drove a Mitsubishi Evo X and were 127 hundredths of a second faster than outright winners Damien White, Rod Salmon and Tony Longhurst who were also in a Mitsubishi Evo X. Both teams are back onboard for the 2010 race, however V8 Supercar endurance driver, Warren Luff will replace, Ricciardello and Ian Tulloch will step in for Longhurst.

The Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour Showroom Enduro is in its 4th year, with a grid of 46 cars entered. The race features production cars in a class structure representative of the mass road-going market. BMW, Mitsubishi, Ford, Holden, Nissan and Subaru will compete for outright honors.

Prostate Cancer is the official charity of the Event and the race will be televised in a 3 hour special on the SEVEN Network, through Fox Sports, New Zealand and other International Markets.

Tickets can be purchased through the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour Website www.bathurst12hour.com.au or through Ticketek on 13 2849.

-source: bathurst 12hour