The countdown to V8 Supercars’ ‘Season of Endurance’ is getting on, with just 34 days until the first of the enduros – the L&H 500 at Phillip Island.
Most of the V8 Supercars teams have confirmed their endurance driver line-ups, with only a handful of teams yet to lock in its combinations.
Walkinshaw Racing is yet to officially confirm its pairings, but expect to see Garth Tander partnered by Cameron McConville (#2 Toll HRT), Will Davison with David Reynolds (#22 Toll HRT) and Fabian Coulthard with Craig Baird (#24 Bundaberg Red). The fourth entry (#10 Bundaberg Red) is likely to have Nick Percat and Ryan Briscoe share duties with regular steerer Andrew Thompson.
For the Armor All Gold Coast 600, McConville is likely to stay on as Tander’s team-mate, with Ryan Briscoe filling in alongside Davison. In the Bundaberg Red camp, Baird would stay with Coulthard, while former F1 driver Mika Salo will partner Thompson.
Of the regular Championship Series cars, the only other driver line-ups yet to confirmed are the #7 and #16 Kelly Racing Commodore VEs.
The only other TBAs are the Wildcard entries. Greg Murphy Racing has Geoff Emery as its only driver sorted, while Matthew White Motorsport has no drivers locked in yet.
The other Wildcard entry for the Sieders Racing Team, to be driven by David Sieders and Andrew Fisher, is currently looking shaky and may not be able to fulfil its Wildcard duties. This scenario would leave the field at 31 cars.
For a full preview of this year’s V8 Season of Endurance, stay tuned to Speedcafe.com.au for a special video presentation – the Castrol EDGE Endurance Countdown …
Below is an unofficial entry list for the L&H 500 at Phillip Island.
| 1 | Jamie Whincup | Steve Owen | Vodafone Triple 8 Race Engineering |
| 2 | Garth Tander | Cameron McConville | Toll Holden Racing Team |
| 3 | Tony D’Alberto | Shane Price | Centaur Tony D’Alberto Racing |
| 4 | Alex Davison | David Brabham | IRWIN Stone Brothers Racing |
| 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Luke Youlden | Orrcon Ford Performance Racing |
| 6 | Steven Richards | James Moffat | Dunlop Ford Performance Racing |
| 7 | Todd Kelly | – | Jack Daniel’s Kelly Racing |
| 8 | Jason Richards | Andrew Jones | BOC Gases Brad Jones Racing |
| 9 | Shane Van Gisbergen | John McIntyre | SP Tools Stone Brothers Racing |
| 10 | Andrew Thomson | Nick Percat | Bundaberg Red Walkinshaw Racing |
| 11 | Jason Bargwanna | Glenn Seton | Rock Kelly Racing |
| 12 | Dean Fiore | Michael Patrizi | Bing Lee Triple F Racing |
| 14 | Jason Bright | Matt Halliday | Trading Post Brad Jones Racing |
| 15 | Rick Kelly | Owen Kelly | Jack Daniel’s Kelly Racing |
| 16 | Tony Ricciardello | – | Kelly Racing |
| 17 | Steven Johnson | Marcus Marshall | Jim Beam Dick Johnson Racing |
| 18 | James Courtney | Warren Luff | Jim Beam Dick Johnson Racing |
| 19 | Jonothan Webb | David Russell | Canadian Club Dick Johnson Racing |
| 21 | Karl Reindler | David Wall | Fair Dinkum Sheds Britek Motorsport |
| 22 | Will Davison | David Reynolds | Toll Holden Racing Team |
| 24 | Fabian Coulthard | Craig Baird | Bundaberg Red Walkinshaw Racing |
| 27 | – | – | Matthew White Motorsport |
| 30 | Mark Noske | Nathan Pretty | Gulf Western Oils Racing |
| 33 | Lee Holdsworth | David Besnard | Fujitsu Garry Rogers Motorsport |
| 34 | Michael Caruso | Greg Ritter | Fujitsu Garry Rogers Motorsport |
| 39 | Russell Ingall | Paul Morris | Supercheap Auto Paul Morris Motorsport |
| 46 | Geoff Emery | – | Greg Murphy Racing |
| 47 | Tim Slade | Jack Perkins | Wilson Security JR Racing |
| 51 | Greg Murphy | Tim Blanchard | Castrol EDGE Paul Morris Motorsport |
| 55 | Paul Dumbrell | Dean Canto | The Bottle-O Rod Nash Racing |
| 888 | Craig Lowndes | Mark Skaife | Vodafone Triple 8 Race Engineering |
| – | David Sieders | Andrew Fisher | Sieders Racing Team |
