Three co-drivers have joined the Dunlop Series for the second running of its 250km Bathurst enduro this weekend.
Adding a second driver is optional, leaving the bulk of the 23-car field to concentrate on giving maximum laps to their full-time steerers.
As previously reported, Drew Russell has joined his brother Aaren Russell in Novocastrian Motorsport’s #58 Ford in preparation for the duo’s wildcard in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
Tony D’Alberto meanwhile links with Josh Kean for a second consecutive year, co-driving the #21 Brad Jones Racing Holden.
Rounding out the ring-ins is V8 Supercars rookie Michael Caine, who will share Aaron McGill’s ex-Kelly Racing Commodore.
A long-time friend of McGill, Caine regularly competes in the AASA’s Australian Endurance Championship and NSW Production Touring Car Championship but is yet to race a V8 Supercar.
“I’ve known Aaron for a long time, we’ve been good mates for what must be 15 or 20 years and he rang me up and said, ‘Would you like to have a crack at this?’” Caine told Speedcafe.com.
“I thought ‘that sounds too good to pass up – definitely, count me in.’
“I’m not fooling myself, it’s a fairly steep learning curve,” he admitted, despite racing at Bathurst as recently as Easter’s Bathurst Motor Festival aboard a HSV.
“I just hope that I can at least be reasonably on the pace and not just be a chicane at the back in everyone’s way.
“But I love that race track. For me that is the best race track in the world, so to be there in a V8 Supercar is just the pinnacle and when the chance came up I had to grab it.”
Other changes to the field this weekend see Liam McAdam make his debut in a fourth Eggleston Motorsport Holden and Grant Denyer replace Jesse Dixon in Image Racing’s #10 Ford.
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