Funding key to Eggleston Bathurst Wildcard entry

As first reported by Motorsport.com the team has been evaluating a Wildcard entry for some time, the greatest hurdle being that it didn’t have access to a competitive Car of the Future chassis.

However, the team struck a deal with Triple Eight several weeks ago to secure the chassis that Whincup is currently racing ahead of the endurance races, with Whincup set to switch to a new chassis as part of Triple Eight’s expanded build programme.

That means the way is now clear for the team to field a full-spec CoTF chassis at this year’s Bathurst 1000 – if the team can pull together the necessary budget.

“It isn’t a sign that we’re definitely going to do [a Wildcard entry], it’s more a case of taking advantage of car availability,” said team boss Rachael Wagg.

“It’s more to do with our business plan for the future, and we’ve secured the car more looking ahead to next year than anything else. And if we want to enter a Wildcard, we now have the car to do it.

“But it has to make sense for us. It has to be financially viable, or we won’t do it. Everyone would love to race at Bathurst and we’re no different, but we run a business so it has to make business sense. We have to make sure we have adequate funding to do it, and to do it properly. We wouldn’t be looking to finish on the podium, but we’d want to be competitive.”

Douglas is the box seat

Should the team ultimately decided to go ahead with its Wildcard plans, Taz Douglas is likely to lead the driver line-up.

The Victorian has been part of the team’s Dunlop Series line-up since the Phillip Island round earlier this season, and comes with genuine enduro experience after a three-year stint with Nissan.

He is currently, however, without an enduro drive thanks to James Moffat’s off-season switch from Nissan to Volvo.

“I missed out with the drivers movements for this year, but that’s the way it goes,” Douglas told Motorsport.com. “It was a good three years with Nissan, it just didn’t work out this year.

“Between the Dunlop Series and the Kumho Series, I’ve done more miles in a Supercar this year than anyone except the main game guys. I’ve developed something good with Ben [Eggleston] doing the Dunlop Serie, and if we can possibly do something for Bathurst I’d jump at the chance.”