A 28-car field is set to take to Sandown Raceway for the inaugural Dial Before You Dig Australian Manufacturers’ Championship 500.
The event, run with the September 10-11 Shannons Nationals presented by Hi-Tec Oils meeting at the Melbourne venue, will see the production cars tackle a 250km race on both Saturday and Sunday.
While co-drivers are not mandatory, the majority of the field have nominated a second driver.
Stuart Kostera and Inky Tulloch will start as the red hot favourites sharing the #1 Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X – one of seven Class A entries.
Petfoods magnate Tony Quinn will team up with son Klark Quinn in the VIP team’s Evo IX, while a second TMR Lancer, owned by Glyn Crimp, is also a strong podium chance.
Australian touring car legend John Bowe will once again drive a BMW 335i alongside car owner Peter O’Donnell in Class B, while the Mazda 3 MPS of Jake Camilleri and Scott Nicholas is likely to lead the way in Class C.
Toyota, Ford, Mini and Honda will all be represented in Class D, which will battle to stay ahead of the Class E entries which will not be required to make a compulsory pit stop in the races. The ‘baby class’ includes two entries from the Suzuki Swift one-make series.
Three former Mini Challenge vehicles will fight for their own ‘Mini Cup’ as part of the invitational Class I, which are expected to fight with the Class C entries on speed.
The Sandown event is the fourth and penultimate round of the 2011 Australian Manufacturers Championship.
Mitsubishi currently leads with 630 points from Mazda (555) and Toyota (525), while Kostera (366) heads the Drivers’ points ahead of Tulloch (240) and Camilleri (231).
See below for the full Sandown entry list
| No. | Cl. | Entrant | Driver(s) | Car |
| 1 | A | TMR Performance | Stuart Kostera/Ian Tulloch | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X |
| 7 | A | Poll Performance | Jim Pollicina/Dean Kelland | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 RS |
| 25 | A | Go Karting Gold Coast | Cam Wilson/Peter Burnitt | Subaru Impreza WRX STi |
| 29 | A | VIP Petfoods | Tony Quinn/Klark Quinn | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 |
| 55 | A | TBA | TBA | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X |
| 68 | A | CXC Global | Dylan Thomas/David Thiomas | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 |
| 93 | A | Symes Coaches | Greg Symes | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 |
| 8 | B | Briffa Smash Repairs | Steve Briffa | HSV Clubsport R8 |
| 10 | B | Intern’l Energy Services | Jeremy Gray/Barton Mawer | Ford FPV F6 |
| 19 | B | Sherrin Rentals | Grant Sherrin | BMW 135i |
| 28 | B | GWS Personnel | Peter O’Donnell/John Bowe | BMW 335i |
| 13 | C | Osborne Motorsport | Colin Osborne | Mazda 3 MPS |
| 20 | C | Racer Industries | Ryan McLeod | Holden Astra HSV |
| 26 | C | GWS Personnel | Garth Duffy | BMW 130i |
| 31 | C | Osborne Motorsport | Hadrian Morrall/David Giugni | Mazda 3 MPS |
| 36 | C | Grand Prix Mazda | Jake Camilleri/Scott Nicolas | Mazda 3 MPS |
| 5 | D | TBA | Lauren Gray | Toyota Corolla |
| 21 | D | Disc Brakes Australia | Jake Williams | Honda Integra S |
| 50 | D | Mid West Multi Media | Trevor Keene | Mini Cooper S |
| 71 | D | Inertia Apparel | Declan Kirkham/Phil Kirkham | Ford Fiesta |
| 75 | D | Weldmaster | Matthew McGill/Geoff Brunsdon | Toyota Celica |
| 15 | E | TBA | Maddison Gray | Toyota Echo |
| 27 | E | Trans Tasman M/sport | Allan Jarvis/Morgan Haber | Suzuki Swift GTi |
| 35 | E | Trans Tasman M/Sport | Mark Gibson | Suzuki Swift GTi |
| 77 | E | Pedders Racing | Grant Phillips/Andrew Turpie/Daryl Martin | Proton Satria GTi |
| 2 | I | Proserv / Abbey Cranes | Brendan Cook/John Modystach | Mini Cooper JWC |
| 23 | I | Bruce Lynton Mini Garage | Beric Lynton | Mini Cooper JWC |
| 72 | I | Sherrin Rentals | Michael Sherrin | Mini Cooper JWC |
