Supercars team owners Stephen and Brenton Grove will be absent from this year’s Bathurst 1000 as they compete in the Intercontinental GT Challenge in the United States.
The Grove Racing owners are set to compete with their eponymous team in all five rounds of the IGTC, which starts with the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour this weekend.
The pair will share driving duties with Anton De Pasquale and Earl Bamber in the five-event competition.
The Groves are joined by De Pasquale at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R at Mount Panorama before jetting to South Africa for the Kyalami 9 Hour.
There, Bamber will join the driving roster having adopted a watching brief in Bathurst.
All four drivers will combine for the blue riband GT event, the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, in June.
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For that event, the quartet will field a new-spec 992-spec Porsche 911 GT3 R.
The current model, the 991.II, will see competition in Bathurst and Kyalami before being replaced by the new car.
“Stephen and Brenton will share the wheel with Anton in Bathurst this weekend in Bathurst and then the pair will be joined by Earl Bamber for the Kylami 9 Hour,” an announcement from the team stated.
“Both Earl and Anton will join Stephen and Brenton for Spa, Earl Bamber will again join the father-son duo for Indianapolis and Anton will conclude the series with Stephen and Brenton for the Gulf 8 Hour in December.”
The Kyalami 9 Hour is set to take place on February 23-25 before the rescheduled 24 Hours of Spa on June 29-July 2 – moved to make way for the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
The IGTC then traverses the Atlantic for the Indianapolis 8 Hour, which will see the Groves miss the Bathurst 1000.
Yas Marina hosts the competition’s finale, the Gulf 12 Hours, on December 8-10.
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