Bathurst 12H: Event pre-event news

77 Year Old Holden to compete in 2010 Bathurst 12 Hour

Bob Holden, winner of the 1966 Hardie Ferodo 500 in a MINI Cooper "S" will return to Mt Panorama this weekend for the 2010 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour Showroom Enduro.

Holden hasn't raced at Bathurst since 1998 in a BMW Super Tourer when he set a world record for the most amount of appearances at the track. Although he has raced in other endurance races like Germany's Nurburgring 24hour, this will be his first appearance at the Armor All 12 Hour Event.

"It will be great to be back at Bathurst. I love the place and I'm very excited to be racing there once again," said Holden. ‘You can't imagine how much the track has changed since my first appearance here in the early sixties, however it is just great to be back at Bathurst and still competing."

The 77 year old motor racing veteran will be joining Justin Matthews and Craig Bradshaw in a Toyota Yaris, #16 (Class E – Racer Industries Production Small) and his predictions are to finish the race and win his class.

This will be his 35th appearance at the famous Mount Panorama track.

The Yaris will be have competition from the local Subaru Impreza to be driven by Matthew Windsor, Paul Newman and Steven Shiels who took out their class in 2009.

The battle for outright honours will be between the Mitusbishi Evo, BMW 335i, FPV F6, HSV, Subaru WRX STi and the new Shelby Mustang GT500, which will be backed by a strong driver line-up of, Jason Bright, Allan Simonsen and Marcus Zukanovic.

Other formidable driver combo's include Glenn Seton/Neil Crompton/Mark King, Jason Bargwanna/ Bob Pearson/Steve Glenney, 2008/09 winners Damien White and Rod Salmon all in Mitsubishi Evo X's. The BMW 335i twin turbo entry of Paul Morris/Garry Holt and John Bowe will also be strong after this car won the 2007 12 Hour. Rally driver Dean Herridge will represent the Subaru brand with Jim Hunter and Barton Mawer.

Osborne Motorsport will be strong contenders in the STP Peformance Class with 2 Mazda 3 MPS hatches entered. Colin Osborne and Canberra rally ace Rick Bates leading the driver line up.

HSV and FPV will face off in the Harrop High Performance Rear Wheel Drive class with veteran Bathurst touring car ace and Port Maquarie Ford Dealer Andrew Miedecke lining up in an FPV F6 turbo against the HSV R8 Clubsport Tourer of Nathan Pretty, Cameron McConville and Andrew Jones.

Practice starts today with 2 on track sessions, qualifying will be tomorrow before race start at 6.30 am Sunday morning.

The Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour Showroom Enduro is in its 4th year, with a grid of 45 cars entered. The race features production cars in a class structure representative of the mass road-going market.

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.

For the first time in the history of the Event, the 12 Hour race will be streamed LIVE through the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour website www.bathurst12hour.com.au.

-source: bathurst 12h