One of the world’s most spectacular endurance races will be held from 13 to 15 May: the Bathurst 12-hour race. At the demanding Mount Panorama Circuit in Australia, M Motorsport is running a KTM X-BOW GT2 in the popular endurance racing event for the first time.
Thanks to the entry by M Motorsport and Vantage Racing, the KTM X-BOW GT2 is making its debut in the 12-hour race at the breathtaking track in New South Wales. David Crampton, Trent Harrison and the brothers Glenn and Dale Wood will be sharing driving duties in the car. Crampton and Harrison already know the X-BOW from a participation in the 4-hour race at Sydney.
“Our quartet will be racing for the first time together, but I am certain that we have put together a competitive package,” team principal Justin McMillan says. “The car ran faultlessly at Sydney and the team really made decisions that ultimately gave us third place.”
M Motorsport has a lot of experience with KTM models at Bathurst as well. For instance, the team opted for the KTM X-BOW GT4 in recent years and was able to score many good results. In 2019, team principal Justin McMillan together with Glen Wood, Dean Lillie and Elliott Barbour claimed victory in the GT4 class.
“Our goals are firstly to finish the race as it is demanding. I reckon that we can be in contention for victory in our class. That is what we will try to do, and we hope to finish well placed outright,” McMillan says, looking ahead to the event that had its inaugural running in 1991.
In 2022, the event isn’t held at its usual date in February, but in May. “The race date move will greatly assist the X-BOW purely due to ambient heat,” the team principal continues. “The straight-line speed out of the corner will greatly assist the GT2 at Bathurst also.” The organisers maintain a particular element that is popular among the fans: traditionally, the start signal for the race is given before the sun rises, this year at 5:15 on Sunday morning (21:15 on Saturday evening CEST). As a result, teams and drivers have to prove themselves in darkness for one and a half hours and therefore longer than in the past.
This is all the more impressive as Mount Panorama Circuit is known as one of the world’s most demanding tracks: 174 metres of difference in altitude, inclines of up to 16 percent and concrete walls running right along the track are awaiting the drivers in the Blue Mountains. The spectacle will be broadcast live on TV in Australia and New Zealand, international fans can watch the action on the live stream.