Matt Stone Racing are taking on the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour next weekend in an IRC GT, with their Supercars Championship line-up of Nick Percat and Cameron Hill.
The two drivers will join John Holinger, as part of the Invitational class. It is one of three IRC GTs in the class, joining the TekworkX Motorsport entry and the T2 Racing entry.
Percat is a Bathurst 12 Hour winner, having taken out the Invitational class in 2020, while Hill’s sole 12 Hour start in 2018 netted him third place in the GT4 class. The two drivers are well accomplished outside of the 12 Hour as well, with Percat a Bathurst 1000 winner boasting over 300 Supercars starts and Hill the 2021 Carrera Cup Champion who has also tasted victory in the Bathurst 6 Hour.
2024 will mark the first time that the IRC GT has featured in the Bathurst 12 Hour. The car excelled in endurance mode in New Zealand, where Danny Stutterd drove it to victory in the Highland 1-Hour.
There will be six practice sessions for the MSR team to prepare for the big race, which sees the green flag at 5:45am local time on Sunday the 18th of February.
For Percat, the IRC GT test also served as his first laps as a Matt Stone Racing driver, following his move in the off-season.
“We had our Bathurst 12 Hour test, in a brand-new car, it was good for myself and Cam to have a drive of something before the Supercars season,” said Percat.
“It was fun, they’ve given me a good toy to play with. Any time in a race car is awesome fun, but it was great to see the way the dynamic of the team works.
“It’s a bit closer (than a GT3) to what we’ll have (in Supercars), it’s probably more relevant to what we’ll be doing in terms of speed across the top,” concluded Percat.
Hill enters his second year with the MSR team, with the 27-year-old also enjoying his experience in the IRC GT.
“All about getting all three drivers turning laps and comfortable,” said Hill.
“We started playing with the setup of the car to see what it likes, but it was really good out of the box. All in all, it was a solid hit out and a sort of soft introduction to the year for us ahead of our Supercars test,” concluded Hill.
