The GruppeM Racing squad has confirmed the driver line-up for its Mercedes-AMG GT3 ahead of the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.
Based out of Hong Kong, the team will sport Maximilian Buhk, Raffaele Marciello, and Maximilian Gotz with an outright effort on this year’s event.
All three drivers possess Mercedes-AMG pedigree and have all made previous appearances at Bathurst, Buhk and Gotz having driven with Strakka Racing 12 months ago.
Marciello co-drove with Jamie Whincup and Kenny Habul, scoring a podium as they finished second outright and won the Pro-Am class.
“The Bathurst 12 Hour is a very important GT3 race and also part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, which we will participate in for 2019,” explained team owner, Kenny Chen.
“It will be a tough challenge, for sure. We see some very strong competitors.
“Historically it has been tough for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 car due to the lack of straight-line speed but with our experienced driver line-up we will fight hard.
“All of those drivers have past history with GruppeM Racing and have all been race winners in a GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 car before.
“We think they enjoy driving our cars! We hope we will be there at the end to fight for a strong finish.”
The GruppeM Racing announcement leaves just three Class A teams to confirm their full driver line-ups.
Spirit of Race/AF Corse has thus far only announced Paul Dalla Lana in the Ferrari 488 GT3, while Todd Hazelwood is the sole driver listed in the Matt Stone Racing/Aussie Driver Search Audi R8 LMS GT3.
Finally, Trofeo Motorsport has not confirmed who will join Dean Canto at the wheel of the squad’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
Elsewhere a number of other teams are still to announce their driving roster, specifically the three Ginetta G55 GT4 entries, a trio of entries from MARC in the Invitational Class and the bulk of the Class B field.
Provisional Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour Entry List
Num | Team | Car | Class | Drivers |
2 | Audi Sport Team Valvoline | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | A | Christopher Mies/Christopher Haase/Markus Winkelhock |
4 | Grove Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | B | Stephen Grove/Brenton Grove/Ben Barker |
6 | Wall Racing | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | A | Tony D’Alberto/Jules Westwood/Cameron McConville/Adrian Deitz |
9 | Hallmarc | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | A | Marc Cini/Lee Holdsworth/Dean Fiore |
11 | Objective Racing | McLaren 650s GT3 | A | Tony Walls/Warren Luff/Andrew Watson |
12 | Competition Motorsports/McElrea Racing | Porsche 911 GT3-R | A | David Calvert-Jones/Jaxon Evans/Kevin Estre |
13 | RHC Lawrence/Strom by MARC Cars | BMW M4 GT4 | GT4 | Daren Jorgensen/Brett Strom/Gerard McLeod |
18 | KCMG | Nissan GT-R GT3 NISMO | A | Katsumasa Chiyo/Josh Burdon/Tsugio Matsuda |
19 | Team Nineteen Corp Black Falcon | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | A | Mark Griffith/Christina Nielsen/Yelmer Buurman |
20 | T2 Racing by Liajen Motorsport | MARC Mustang II | I | |
22 | Audi Sport Team Valvoline | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | A | Kelvin van der Linde/Frédéric Vervisch/Garth Tander |
23 | Team Carrera Cup Asia | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | B | |
27 | HubAuto Corsa | Ferrari 488 GT3 | A | Tim Slade/Nick Percat/Nick Foster |
29 | Trofeo Motorsport | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | A | Dean Canto |
34 | Walkenhorst Motorsport | BMW M6 GT3 | A | Christian Krognes/Nick Catsburg/Mikkel Jensen |
35 | KCMG | Nissan GT-R GT3 NISMO | A | Oliver Jarvis/Edoardo Liberato/Alexandre Imperatori |
42 | BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M6 GT3 | A | Augusto Farfus/Martin Tomczyk/Chaz Mostert |
43 | Ashely Seward Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | B | |
48 | M Motorsport/Equity One | KTM X-Bow | GT4 | Dean Koutsoumidis/James Winslow /Jake Parsons |
50 | M Motorsport/Vantage Freight | KTM X-Bow | GT4 | David Crampton/Trent Harrison/Caitlin Wood |
51 | Spirit of Race/AF Corse | Ferrari 488 GT3 | A | Paul Dalla Lana |
52 | On Track Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 Cup | B | |
54 | Ginetta Australia | Ginetta G55 GT4 | GT4 | |
55 | Ginetta Australia | Ginetta G55 GT4 | GT4 | |
56 | Ginetta Australia | Ginetta G55 GT4 | GT4 | |
62 | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 | A | Andreas Baenziger /Florian Kamelger/Peter Leemhuis/Matt Parry |
71 | M Motorsport | KTM X-Bow | GT4 | Justin McMillan/Glen Wood/Dean Lillie/Tim Macrow |
75 | SunEnergy1 Racing/Erebus Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | A | Kenny Habul/Tristan Vautier/Thomas Jaeger |
77 | Craft-Bamboo Racing/Black Falcon | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | A | Maro Engel/Gary Paffet/Luca Stolz |
91 | MARC Cars Australia | MARC Mustang II | I | Keith Kassulke/Paul Morris /Paul Tracy |
92 | Liajen Motorsport MARC Car | MARC Focus V8 | I | |
96 | MARC Cars Australia | MARC Focus V8 | I | |
98 | Matt Stone Racing/Aussie Driver Search | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | A | Todd Hazelwood |
107 | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley Continental GT3 | A | Vincent Abril/Jules Gounon/Steven Kane |
108 | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley Continental GT3 | A | Jordan Pepper/Andy Soucek/Maxime Soulet |
540 | Black Swan Racing | Porsche 911 GT3-R | A | Tim Pappas/Jeroen Bleekemolen/Marc Lieb |
760 | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 | A | Jake Dennis/Marvin Kirchhöfer/Matthieu Vaxiviere |
777 | The Bend Motorsport Park/Erebus Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | A | David Reynolds/Luke Youlden/Yasser Shahin |
888 | Team Vodafone/Triple Eight/STM | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | A | Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup/Shane van Gisbergen |
911 | Porsche Motorsport/EBM | Porsche 911 GT3-R | A | Matt Campbell/Dirk Werner/Dennis Olsen |
912 | Porsche Motorsport/EBM | Porsche 911 GT3-R | A | Sven Müller/Mathieu Jaminet/Romain Dumas |
999 | GruppeM Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | A | Mximillian Buhk/Raffaele Marciello/Maximillian Gotz |
TBC | Audi Sport Team MPC | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | A | Matt Neal/Gordon Shedden/Pete Storey |