It’s been a long-awaited event for the Shahins, who in 2020 were thwarted by the pandemic and were forced to put their grand plans for a Supercars endurance race on the back burner.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then – Gen3 has arrived, Toyota is coming, and champions Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen have left for fresh pastures.
On September 12-14, the Shahin family’s dream will become a reality when 27 of the V8-powered Supercars take to The Bend Motorsport Park.
So who will win the inaugural 500km race on Sunday?
Year on year, just eight pairings have stayed the same – including the Bathurst 1000-winning duo of Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood. However, they’ve moved from Erebus Motorsport to Dick Johnson Racing.
DJR has retained Tony D’Alberto, who will join Will Davison in the #17 Shell Mustang for the first time after four Enduro Cup tilts with Anton De Pasquale.
If there’s one thing that Triple Eight enjoys, it’s stability. This year is no different, despite rumours late last year that Scott Pye might return to full-time driving off the back of his Sandown 500 win.
Pye partners Will Brown in the #87 Red Bull Ampol Camaro, while Supercars GOAT Jamie Whincup returns with Broc Feeney in the #88 car.
Other unchanged combos in Ford land are Matt Payne/Garth Tander at Grove Racing and James Courtney/Jack Perkins at the Blanchard Racing Team.
There’s stability in the Camaro ranks too, with Andre Heimgartner/Declan Fraser and Macauley Jones/Jordan Boys at Brad Jones Racing, and James Golding/David Russell at PremiAir Racing unchanged too.
Tickford Racing has one of the strongest line-ups of any team with Cameron Waters joined by 2015 champion and Bathurst 1000 winner Mark Winterbottom in the #6 Monster Mustang.
Winterbotton’s arrival from full-time duties at Team 18 means James Moffat moves across to the #55 Castrol Mustang with Thomas Randle.
Staying with the Ford camp, Walkinshaw Andretti United has shuffled the deck. The all-Kiwi line-up is no more with Fabian Coulthard moving to join Chaz Mostert in the #25 Optus Mustang.
Lee Holdworth’s move to Team 18 has opened the door for former Erebus driver Jayden Ojeda to drive in the #2 Truck Assist Mustang. With Wood in form and Ojeda arriving with Supercars experience and GT racing miles in spades, they stand a good shot at the podium.
Aaron Cameron’s unexpected promotion to full-time duties at the Blanchard Racing Team has opened the door for Zak Best to make a surprise return in the #3 CoolDrive Mustang.
Richie Stanaway’s move to PremiAir means Grove Racing goes in with another new line-up featuring rookie Kai Allen with Dale Wood in the #26 Penrite Mustang.
In the Camaro camp, there will no doubt be plenty of intrigue in Erebus Motorsport who go into the Enduro Cup with wholesale changes to its co-driver line-up.
They’re the only two-car team with three new drivers. Jack Le Brocq will be partnered by Jarrod Hughes in the #9 while Job Stewart joins Cooper Murray in the #99.
Matt Stone Racing brings one of the most experienced line-ups to the Enduro Cup with Nick Percat joined by Tim Slade in the #10 Bendix Camaro.
Team 18 will be fascinating to watch, more so for Porsche gun Harri Jones who will want to prove himself in a Supercar alongside Anton De Pasquale in the #18 DeWalt Camaro.
Like Percat and Slade, the David Reynolds/Lee Holdsworth line-up is one of the most experienced in the #20 Tradie Camaro.
This year’s grid features seven debutants – Jones at Team 18, Hughes and Stewart at Erebus, Nash Morris alongside Stanaway in the #62 PremiAir Camaro, and wildcard Zach Bates with Craig Lowndes in the #888 Supercheap Auto Camaro. The other two debutants are Rylan Gray and Lochie Dalton in the #5 Tickford Mustang.
There are three wildcards this year, including the aforementioned Gray and Dalton for Tickford and Bates and Lowndes at Triple Eight. The other wildcard is Cameron Crick and Aaron Seton in the #35 Sherrin Rentals Camaro out of the Matt Stone Racing stable.
Who do you think will win the AirTouch 500 at The Bend? Cast your vote below.
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