Three wild card entries confirmed for Bathurst 1000km

The three wildcard entries which will contest this year’s Bathurst 1000km race in October have now been confirmed by the Championship organisers, with two new teams fielding three cars in total for the iconic endurance event at Mount Panorama.

The first New Zealand based team since Team Kiwi Racing (TKR) competed in 2009 will take part in the event, running under the name Super Black Racing. The team will field a Ford Falcon FG with support from the Ford Performance Racing team.

“I am a proud Kiwi and have a passion for motorsport so being able to create a team and bring the black and silver New Zealand colours back into the sport gives me great pride,” said Tony Lentino, the man behind the operation to the Championship’s official site.

“Bathurst is the greatest motor race in our region and is as iconic in New Zealand as it is in Australia. It is the best place for us to make our debut and will be a great sounding board to a potential full-time entry in the series.”

FPR team boss Tim Edwards added:

“Super Black Racing represents a whole nation and one that has produced and continues to produce top-line talent,” Edwards said.

“The concept of helping to bring on the next generation is commendable and the team will add another interesting point of difference to a race that captures everyone’s attention on both sides of the ditch.”

The second team to enter will be Dragon Motor Racing, which will field two Holden Commodore VFs at Bathurst, and a single car at the preceding event, the Sandown 500, in September.

Dragon Motor Racing presently field a pair of cars in the V8 Supercars Development Series (Dunlop Series) for Kristian Lindbom and Ben Schoots, although as with Super Black Racing, the drivers with which the team will compete at Sandown and Bathurst are yet to be confirmed.

Dragon Motor Racing will run with technical support from Garry Rogers Motorsport, which now races as Volvo Polestar Racing. The Dragon team will run the two cars which Rogers’ ran last season before the team switched to Volvo for 2014.

“We have been working with the team at Garry Rogers Motorsport on our wildcard entry since May this year. Our team is hoping that our campaign is a catalyst and stepping stone to further opportunities within the V8 Supercar competition,” said team principal Tony Klien.

Last year there was just one wildcard entry at the Bathurst 1000km, an additional Holden Commodore run by Triple Eight Race Engineering under the XBox One Racing banner (pictured) for European-based touring car champions Andy Priaulx and Mattias Ekström.