Ashley Seward Motorsport’s trio in Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge join Tom Oliphant in TCR and Brett Holdsworth in Trans Am at the Bathurst International this weekend.
All three categories will conclude their season with TCR and Trans Am backing up from the action in Sydney one week ago, while Sprint Challenge returns after their penultimate round in Tailem Bend last month.
Matt Slavin enters the deciding round in contention for the Pro-Am title in Sprint Challenge, 118 points back, in just his first full season of racing in the category. The Ares Group driver also holds a commanding 164 point margin over third place in the standings.
Ross McGregor will be looking to continue his Endurance Cup form, having picked up finishes of third and fifth in the last two races of the ‘series within a series’. The final 45 minute Endurance Cup race of 2023 is the first race on the schedule for this weekend, at 4:40pm on Friday.
Tim Wolfe is set to take on the mountain for the first time. It will be a rapid fire introduction to Mount Panorama, with a single practice session on Friday morning before qualifying and race one later that same day.
In TCR, Oliphant is looking to build on the speed he showed in the Autoglym Lynk & Co at SMP. Oliphant also gained some valuable Mount Panorama experience with a run in the V8 SuperUtes last month, so is well prepared to take on the mountain.
“Massive positives going into Bathurst, which shares similarities to SMP with a lot of medium and high speed corners,” said Oliphant.
“I have big confidence in the car that we can push for a really good result. I love the track, I feel comfortable there, I can’t wait to go racing there in the Lynk & Co. Just going to a track I’ve driven before, having the test day at SMP was a huge advantage.
“We’re really on top of the car now, hopefully we can take that into Bathurst, I think the car should suit it,” concluded Oliphant.
Over in Trans Am, it’s down to the final round of the season for Brett Holdsworth in his quest for a second consecutive third place finish in the championship. Check out his full Sydney recap and Bathurst preview here.
All the racing from 12pm Saturday and 10am Sunday will be live on Stan Sport. Race three for Sprint Challenge, plus the opening races for Trans Am and TCR will be on free-to-air tv via 9Gem/9Go.
Weekend Schedule
Friday
8:50am – Sprint Challenge Practice
10:55am – Trans Am Practice 1
11:20am – TCR Practice 1
1:50pm – Sprint Challenge Qualifying
2:45pm – Trans Am Practice 2
4:00pm – TCR Practice 2
4:40pm – Sprint Challenge Race 1
Saturday
9:25am – Trans Am Qualifying
12:05pm – Sprint Challenge Race 2
12:35pm – TCR Qualifying
2:50pm – Sprint Challenge Race 3
3:25pm – Trans Am Race 1
4:15pm – TCR Race 1
Sunday
11:55am – Trans Am Race 2
12:50pm – TCR Race 2
3:10pm – Trans Am Race 3
4:10pm – TCR Race 3