A second Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 will join a 26-car field for the Australian GT Championship round at Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend.

Running alongside the Maranello stable’s lead Ferrari of John Bowe and Peter Edwards will be the pairing of Josh Hunt and Adrian Deitz for the twin 60-minute races.

It will be the first time this season the squad will field a second car, with Hunt making a rare competition appearance.

The Ferrari is the 2012-spec machine which Nick Halloran and the late Allan Simonsen campaigned in the championship.

“I’ve done just two smaller events this year and it will be good fun to get back in,” Hunt told Speedcafe.com

“We haven’t finalised a plan but we have to share the driving and have a driver change in each race.

“It’s Adrian’s first race so I’m partnering him and helping him along.

“We have done a little bit of testing this year. Most recently we did a test day two weeks ago at SMP and got a feel for the race.

“We are in a 2012-spec car so the feedback and the data between our car and the one Peter Edwards and John Bowe are in is a little bit different.”

A third 458 GT3, previously owned by Tony Quinn, will also be on the grid in the hands of Jim Manolios, while a 458 Challenge joins the GT Challenge class field for Paul Van Loenhout/Renato Loberto.

Other new additions to the grid since the last round in Townsville seven weeks ago include the Ford GT of Kevin Weeks.

The American muscle car has been absent from the AGTC since 2012, and will compete in the second-tier GT Trophy.

Among Weeks’ nine rivals in GT Trophy is Barton Mawer, who returns to action aboard Mammoth Projects’ Lotus Exige S GT3.

Richard Muscat (Mercedes-Benz) leads the outright points standings by 43 points over John Bowe (Ferrari) heading to Sydney, which marks the fourth of the season’s six rounds.

Muscat’s car dominated at the western Sydney circuit in 2013 in the hands of Jack Le Brocq.