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John Bowe has announced his intentions to compete in the 2023 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour.
Bowe is expected to join a capacity grid for the production car endurance race, which is set to be held between April 7-9.
The 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship winner will compete alongside Aaron McGill in a Ford Falcon FG GT-F.
The duo ran as high as the top 10 in this year’s event, before finishing 36th out of 49 finishers.
“I’ll be driving again with Aaron McGill in the last of the Falcon GTFs, which I really enjoyed,” Bowe told Speedcafe.com.
“We had a little drama with fuel vaporisation late in the race, but we were running in the top 10 which for an Aussie-built car was pretty reasonable.
“I’ve had a lot to do with those Fords, with Prodrive, with FPV, with Tickford before that, so I’ve got a bit of a Ford stamp on my heart.
“They were really great road cars and I enjoy the driving of them.”
While Bowe is realistic about the race-winning contention of the Ford Falcon FG GT-F, he is looking forward to taking part in the race.
“I love the six-hour race because it’s production-based and I think the races are meaningful,” he added.
“I mean the six-hour race, unless you’re in a BMW, you’re never going to win it, but it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it, enjoy the class, as well as enjoy the racing against other cars.
“It has some serious marketplace relevance in all the classes, so I think it is one of the best events to come onto the calendar in the last 10 years.”
Supercars Championship-bound driver Cameron Hill and 2022 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia Series winner Thomas Sargent won this year’s Bathurst 6 Hour from the rear of the grid in a BMW M2 Competition.
Bathurst 6 Hour organisers have received 75 entries for next year’s event, five more than the grid capacity of the Mount Panorama circuit for the race.
