Reynolds, Youlden in Erebus Bathurst 12Hr bid

Erebus Motorsport will return to the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour next year with an entry for David Reynolds, Luke Youlden and Yasser Shahin. 

The Melbourne squad is set to field a Scott Taylor Motorsport prepared Mercedes AMG GT3 for the trio at the Mount Panorama GT classic from January 31 to February 3.

A Pro-Am entry marks a return to GT racing and the Bathurst 12 Hour for Erebus having focussed on its Supercars program in recent seasons.

The operation has pedigree at the Bathurst 12 Hour having won the event in 2013 with Bernd Schneider, Alexander Roloff and Thomas Jäger.

It scored the Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy in 2014 courtesy of Maro Engel, and has not finished outside the top five.

The line-up of 2017 Bathurst 1000 winners Reynolds and Youlden paired with Australian GT regular Shahin boasts a strong Pro-Am trio.

“The event holds a special place the hearts of our team, it was the stage of our first big victory and somewhere we never finished outside the top five,” said Erebus Motorsport CEO Barry Ryan.

“We always go there with high expectations; we want to push for the Pro/Am victory but with the speed Yasser shows as an amateur driver, also give the outright victory a go.

“Scott (Taylor) has built a fantastic team since he took over the running of his car in 2017 and when he asked for support to run Yasser’s car at next year’s 12-hour event it was an easy decision.”

Reynolds has been a regular at the Bathurst 12 Hour in recent years having raced the last three events in Mercedes GT3 machinery.

The opportunity to team up with his Supercars co-driver Youlden was too good to pass up.

“It’s great to be back at Bathurst with Luke and the team and even though it’s a different race and different car, we share great memories,” said Reynolds.

“Luke drives those cars very well and last year was one of the fastest in the Shootout. I’ve seen Yasser drive and he drives very well to so I’m looking forward to it.”

Youlden teamed up with Shahin in a Lamborghini for this year’s race that saw the experienced racer qualify an impressive fourth in the Top 10 Shootout.

“I’m rapt it’s worked out this way, having a previous relationship with Yasser, David and the team,” said Youlden.

“It gives me a huge amount of confidence and really good motivation to try win; we have all the ingredients, so I don’t think we could go into a 12-Hour more prepared.”

“The team’s preparation for the test was second to none and I am incredibly excited to run in such a professional environment,” added Shahin.

Erebus Motorsport is not the only Supercars team to tackle the event with Triple Eight also set to field a Mercedes AMG GT3 for Jamie Whincup, Shane van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes.

The squad is set to test in mid January to prepare for the Bathurst 12 Hour.