New Audi, same ethos

KIWI RACE TEAM HAS SET AMBITIOUS GOALS FOR SEASON AHEAD

Simon Evans, left and Gene Rollinson, pictured with Smeg Racing's new Audi R8 LMS Ultra. Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, with team owner Owen Evans — father of racers Simon and Mitch Evans — hoping to shoot for outright glory.

“It happened just before Christmas, to be honest with you. Welooked at different options of maybe going into a GT car, and then a couple of investors came along and said, ‘ We’d buy a car,’ and the deal was done. It happened that quickly,” said Evans.

For the domestic 2017 season, the Audi will be driven by former NZ SuperTourer and BNT NZ Touring Car Champion Simon Evans and the experienced and versatile Gene Rollinson. However, a tilt at the Bathurst 12 Hour is likely to see a revised driver line- up featuring some of New Zealand’s biggest names in motorsport.

“To be there, with an all- black car with the silver fern on the roof, the team all in black overalls, and three Kiwi drivers — but all three [ have] to be good drivers. I don’t want paid drivers, I want top drivers that we end up paying — to do it properly,” said Evans.

“I’ve already spoken to a couple of drivers who are in our sights — it’s not too hard to guess who they would be. We don’t know if we can get Mitch [ Evans] down for it, since he’s got the deal with Jaguar, so it’s probably not possible. But obviously Simon will be in the seat with two top drivers.”

Simon Evans and Rollinson have competed in the North Island Endurance Series before, but in the team’s very different SuperTourer- chassis Holden VE Commodore as well as in a Mosler MT900R.

For Evans, valuable miles at the