Glenn Seton joins Kelly Racing for Bathurst 1000

GLENN SETON JOINS KELLY RACING FOR ANOTHER CRACK AT BATHURST GLORY

Arguably the best driver never to win the Bathurst 1000, Glenn Seton will join Kelly Racing this October for yet another crack at finally claiming victory at Mount Panorama.

Seton will join Kelly Racing for the endurance events at Phillip Island and Bathurst later this season, with the team's final driver pairings to be confirmed at a later date.

Seton, 45, will make his 26th Bathurst 1000 start this October as he tries to finally join his father Bo as a winner of 'The Great Race'.

With the separation of lead drivers for this year's V8 Supercar endurance events, the L&H 500 at Phillip Island and the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Seton sees this opportunity with Kelly Racing as his best opportunity for a long time to finally win at Bathurst.

A two-time Australian Touring Car Champion, Seton has shown great speed at Mount Panorama for decades, with two pole positions and four podium finishes in the Bathurst 1000 since he debut there in 1983.

Seton has come painfully close to victory at Bathurst time after time, most notably in 1995 when he suffered an engine failure while dominating the race with just nine laps remaining.

Now he will tackle Mount Panorama yet again after last year missing the race for the first time since his debut.

Whatever the final pairings at Kelly Racing, Seton will be paired with a former Bathurst winning driver in one of Rick Kelly (2003 and 2004 Bathurst winner), Todd Kelly (2005 Bathurst winner) or Jason Bargwanna (2000 Bathurst winner).

Team drivers and co-owners Todd and Rick Kelly are treating Seton's addition to their young V8 Supercar squad as a true privilege, with Seton one of their racing heroes.

Seton will drive laps in Jason Bargwanna's #11 Rock Holden Commodore in the Co-Driver practice sessions at Winton Motor Raceway today.

KELLY RACING QUOTEBOARD:

GLENN SETON - Kelly Racing endurance driver:

"It's exciting to be getting another crack at Bathurst and I'm really pleased to get that chance with the Kelly Racing organisation," said Glenn Seton.

"The team is relatively young but extremely impressive and I'm proud to be a part of it.

"Both Todd and Rick have a successful history at Bathurst and they're team was very impressive at Mount Panorama last year.

"Bathurst is a very special race and I'm still looking to conquer it. Whether I'm racing with Todd, Rick or Bargs, all three are former Bathurst winners and are certainly capable of winning again there this October.

"It's a very exciting time for me and I'm as determined as ever to give Phillip Island and Bathurst a really good crack with Kelly Racing.

"The goal posts for the endurance races have moved for this year with the situation we are in with the rule change splitting the full-time drivers.

"It makes this my best chance to win the race for a long time.

"There is more opportunity for potential race winners. Instead of going up against three or four really strong combinations, there are now a dozen cars that could win and I certainly put myself in that group."

RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"I'm really excited about this," said Rick Kelly.

"As kids we used to get together with family and friends and have a BBQ to watch Bathurst and Glenn Seton was one of the drivers we idolised.

"We'd be racing around the street on our push bikes with all our friends pretending we were the Bathurst drivers and 'Seto' was one of the top guys.

"I remember watching Bathurst as a kid when he went so close to winning the race but had the engine failure and that for me is one of my biggest memories of motorsport growing up as a kid.

"It's a massive buzz for me to be able to have him in our own team driving with us all these years later.

"I haven't had too much to do with Glenn in terms of his driving in the past, other than looking up to him, so I'm really looking forward to getting to know him better and working with him on the same team.

"I consider signing him for the endurance races a pretty big privilege for us."

TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"Everyone at Kelly Racing, and especially me and Rick, are absolutely rapt to have 'Seto' on board," said Todd Kelly.

"Rick and I grew up in Mildura idolising guys like him and I certainly followed Glenn pretty closely when I got into Formula Ford at the age of 16.

"He had a lot of success back when we were growing up and he is still awesome in one of these cars.

"I can't wait to get him up to speed with our cars and we will all be fighting over who gets to drive with him at the endurance races.

"We're quite proud that he would drive with our team. It's only our second year and we haven't achieved some of the goals we are aiming at just yet but it's great that we've got the respect of Seto for him to jump on board with us this year.

"We certainly would love to give him that Bathurst win he been chasing for all these years."

-source: kellyracing.com.au