Drivers ready for Daytona-Bathurst 36 hours

A host of drivers will attempt to complete 36 hours of racing across two weekends and on opposite sides of the world over the next ten days. Ten drivers will contest both this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour endurance classics, split by a more than 15,000km trip in between where they will cross the international date line as part of a 20-plus hour journey from airport to airport.

The WeatherTech Sports Car Championship’s iconic opener on the high banks of Daytona is the annual kickoff of the US racing season. A week later Australia’s season bursts into life with the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, which is also the opener of the Intercontinental GT Challenge and this year features it’s best ever field.

The drivers completing the enduro double are some of the most competitive names in GT racing and are set to feature in the results in both races... should all go to plan.

Finland’s finest Toni Vilander will share a Risi Competizione Ferrari with Giancarlo Fissichella and James Calado, before joining Maranello Motorsport and teammates Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup at Bathurst.

Porsche duo Laurens Vanthoor - in 2016 the inaugural Intercontinental GT Challenge winner - and Kevin Estre will race a Porsche 911 RSR at Daytona with Richard Lietz, before jumping into the #911 GT3 R at Bathurst alongside Earl Bamber.

Double Bathurst 12 Hour winner and Audi factory driver Christopher Mies will race in the GT Daytona class this weekend, racing an Audi R8 LMS GT3. He’ll tackle the B12hr in a similar JAMEC-PEM Racing R8 alongside Garth Tander and Chris Haase, the latter being the winner of the 2016 Motul Sepang 12 Hours.

Defending 12-hour champion and reigning Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup champion Shane van Gisbergen will commence his new relationship with a new brand this weekend, driving a WeatherTech racing AMG GT3. SVG will return to defend his Bathurst crown with Scott Taylor Motorsport, driving with Craig Baird and Maro Engel, who will also make his Aussie come-back.

Patrick Long will also race in the GT Daytona class, sharing a Porsche 911 GT3R. At Bathurst, he’ll race for Competiton Motorsports in the Ice Break 911 GT3R alongside Matt Campbell, Marc Lieb and David Calvert-Jones. Finally, Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy will team up together in both races – racing with Marco Sorensen at Daytona in an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 before switching to a HTP Motorsport-run AMG GT3 at Bathurst.