Racing columnist
Ben explains his racing plans for 2018, beginning with a trip Down Under
FIA WEC driver Ben Barker offers his thoughts on a mega season ahead for GT racing
Happy New Year! I hope Christmas was good to you and that you’re looking forward to 2018. While my plans for the year ahead are still coming together, I’m confident I’ll be back on track and racing at a high level. I’m working on a deal to return to the FIA WEC and am hopeful that an announcement on my plans for the 2018-19 ‘super season’ is coming soon.
In the meantime, I’m not exactly sitting around and twiddling my thumbs. While I had Christmas off to celebrate with family and friends, the weeks before and after saw me continuing my preparation for the coming year, as well as confirming that I will shortly be heading back to Australia for another crack at the Bathurst 12 Hours.
Australia is something of a second home for me, and Bathurst one of my favourite places to play with race cars. The 12 Hours is fast becoming a must-see event on the endurance calendar and, sitting as it does at the start of February, fits in nicely with the rest of the category’s schedules. Along with the likes of Dubai, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, it is steadily gaining a strong following among the enduro community, with stronger fields assembling each year. While I’d like to try those other events at some point – and I’ve made no secret of my desire to find a ride in the Daytona 24 Hours as well – Bathurst provides the perfect warm-up, both literally and metaphorically, for the season ahead.
I’ll be back with the Grove Racing team for the 2018 edition of the race, joining team owner Stephen Grove and his son Brenton, who will be making his 12 Hour debut at the event. As has been the case in recent years, I’ll be mentoring both my teammates, as well as attempting to lead the pursuit of a good qualifying and race result.
I’m really looking forward to it.
The #4 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car will again compete in Class B, but will do so with a very different – and very eye-catching – livery to recent years. The paint job is very patriotic, with Aussie green and yellow providing the base and an iconic boxing kangaroo prominent on either side. It’s clearly not enough for the Australians to rub the Ashes in our face…
This will be my fourth Bathurst 12 Hours. I’ve already enjoyed some success there with Grove, winning the class with Earl Bamber in 2014 and finishing second in 2015, before returning for another crack last season. That race didn’t go our way, with one of my co-drivers being forced into the wall before I could even get into the cockpit, so we’ll be looking for a decent run in 2018.
It won’t be easy though, as Mount Panorama is a notoriously tough circuit. It’s definitely among my favourites but, as we found last year, it can bite when you least expect it. It’s the most demanding circuit I’ve raced at, both mentally and physically because of the heat, so it’s going to be a case of staying out of trouble and seeing how things lie in the latter stages.
The elevation change between different sections of the track is amazing, and the road over the mountain itself is very fast and very narrow, so you almost have to have eyes in the back of your head when it comes to overtaking and being overtaken. It will be especially challenging in the Cup car, which runs without any driver aids, as the delta between ourselves and the GT classes is a lot smaller than racing against Le Mans Prototypes in the WEC. And then there is the local wildlife to contend with, too.
For all those reasons, it’s a very unique event, but a great way to get 2018 underway. I really can’t wait...