05 febbraio 2016
Maranello, 5 February – This weekend sees the Bathurst circuit host its 12 Hour race, the most famous endurance event to be held in Australia. 37 cars are taking part, split into four classes: two Ferrari 458 Italias are entered in two of them.
Pro-Am Class. In the main GT3 Pro-Am class, there is the Prancing Horse car of the team that won here two years ago, namely Maranello Motorsport, running the number 88 car. Mika Salo will be back at the wheel, the Finn will partner fellow Toni Vilander and Australia’s Tony D’Alberto and Grant Denyer, a crew very competitive in 2015 GT Australia season.
Am class. The other car will be racing in the GT3 Am class. It will be the 458 Italia no. 49 of Vicious Rumour Racing with Andrea Montermini, Renato Loberto, Benny Simonsen and Tony Defelice. The race is run on the Mount Panorama circuit in New South Wales. It’s a complicated track with no less than 23 corners. As for Ferrari’s track record, 2014 win courtesy of John Bowe, Peter Edwards, Craig Lowndes and Mika Salo was the first, but one should bear in mind that the Maranello cars only made their first appearance here in 2011.