Audi Confirm Factory Support In Depth For 2023 Bathurst 12 Hour

Together with the Melbourne Performance Centre (MPC), Audi Sport customer racing is involved in both the Pro and Pro-Am classes of the 2023 Liquid Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.

With the addition of customer cars in the Silver class, a total of seven Audi R8 LMS cars are expected at Mount Panorama on the first weekend in February.

“For our local MPC partners, the race is a first-class sporting challenge just as it is for us,” says Chris Reinke, Head of Audi Sport customer racing.

“Already traditionally, MPC is represented at Bathurst with a strong, competitive base of customers. Audi Sport customer racing complements the privateer lineup with six Audi Sport drivers split across three race cars.”

Audi Sport drivers Mattia Drudi, Christopher Haase and Patric Niederhauser share an R8 LMS of Audi Sport Team MPC in the professional category and aim to race for the brand’s fourth overall victory.

In 2011, the GT3 category entered the 12-hour race for the first time and since then, Audi has been the most successful brand with its victories in 2011, 2012 and 2018

Ricardo Feller and Christopher Mies are entered in the Pro-Am classification at The Bend Motorsport Team MPC.

The two Audi Sport drivers are supporting Australian privateer Yasser Shahin, who won the GT World Challenge Australia in an Audi R8 LMS in the past two years.

Frédéric Vervisch is the sixth Audi Sport driver to travel to Australia. The accomplished pro enters the race in the Fuchs Lubricants Racing run by Schumacher Motorsport/Premier Racing with privateer Brad Schumacher and James Golding.

Schumacher, a local Bathurst driver, was runner-up in the GT Trophy standings of the domestic championship last year.

Team Supabarn MPC – (pictured top) winner of the Am classification at Bathurst a year ago – is back on the grid with brothers James and Theo Koundouris and Dave Russell and Jonathan Webb, as is Hallmarc Team MPC with Marc Cini/Dean Fiore/Lee Holdsworth.

Two additional GT3 race cars from Audi for Andrew Fawcet/Daniel Gaunt/Dylan O’Keeffe (Myland Team IMS) and Liam Talbot/Fraser Ross (Team MPC) complete the line-up of a total of seven Audi R8 LMS race cars.

The Melbourne Performance Centre is overseeing the entries with the support of Steve McLaughlan’s Jamec Racing.

The drivers and teams in Bathurst

Audi Sport Team MPC

Audi R8 LMS #74 Mattia Drudi/Christopher Haase/Patric Niederhauser

The Bend Motorsport Park Team MPC

Audi R8 LMS #777 Ricardo Feller/Christopher Mies/Yasser Shahin

Fuchs Lubricants Racing run by Schumacher Motorsport/Premier Racing

Audi R8 LMS #55 James Golding/Brad Schumacher/Frédéric Vervisch

Hallmarc Team MPC

Audi R8 LMS #9 Marc Cini/Dean Fiore/Lee Holdsworth

Myland Team IMS

Audi R8 LMS #10 Andrew Fawcet/Daniel Gaunt/Dylan O’Keeffe

Supabarn Team MPC

Audi R8 LMS #47 James Koundouris/Theo Koundouris/Dave Russell/Jonathan Webb

Team MPC

Audi R8 LMS #65 Liam Talbot/Fraser Ross/NN