KIWI TEAMS PREPARE FOR BATHURST 12- HOUR ASSAULT

The Bathurst 12-hour endurance race on February 6–8 is said to be one of the most spectacular endurance events of the international motorsport calendar, and this year three Kiwi teams will head over to compete.

The biggest of them is TFM. If you haven’t heard of Trass Family Motorsport in the past six months you can’t exactly call yourself a New Zealand motorsport enthusiast. TFM is a new Kiwi racing team that has taken the country by storm with its very impressive Ferrari antics, and it’s just announced it will take its current-spec GT3 Ferrari 458 to Australia, along with an impressive all-Kiwi team, to compete. The team’s lead driver — Jono Lester — will be joined by Graeme Smyth and John McIntyre. McIntyre is the only team member with Bathurst experience, and he’s competed in V8 Supercar endurance races in the past.

The Kiwi team’s line-up has been combining John’s experience with copious amounts of simulator training to ensure they are competitive.

This month’s cover car, the Possum Bourne Motorsport–built Subaru BRZ, will make its race debut on the mountain after a rush last-minute test and airplane ride for the car to make the event in time. And from the South Island will be GT3 Endurance Ltd with two Kiwi drivers and one who’s UK based, Michael Lyons, who has competed numerous times in British GT championships and Le Mans. With this experience backing them, the team should be fairly competitive over the weekend behind the wheel of the Mobil 1 Porsche GT3.