WARREN Aubin has received praise from fellow councillors for the work he did for Bathurst while in Malaysia last month for the Malaysian-Sepang 12 Hour Car Race.
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The cost of the trip was around $3000 and will be funded from the Mount Panorama 12 Hour Operations.
During Wednesday night’s Bathurst Regional Council meeting Cr Ross Thompson said he believes Bathurst is about to see the “massive fruit” of Cr Aubin’s efforts.
During his time in Malaysia Cr Aubin had extensive talks with the manager of Clearwater Racing and came away with a Bathurst entry for their Ferrari 458. Clearwater is based in Singapore.
Cr Aubin said he also spoke to Liqui Moly Team Engstler from Germany who have said his team would enter the Bathurst 12 hour if they don’t go to Daytona.
Meanwhile another interesting discussion was held with Davide De Gobbi the manager of a team of 17 VW Sirroccos from China. The VW Siroccos could be run as a separate class in the Bathurst 12 Hour and race co-ordinator James O’Brian is now in discussions with Mr De Gobbi to see if they will make an appearance at Bathurst in 2012.
Mr Aubin then moved to a meeting with Craft Eurasia Racing, based in Hong Kong who were running a Ford GT3.
The proprietor of the team Mark Goddard indicated he was desperate to come and race at Mt Panorama.
Cr Aubin said it was surreal to sit around a table with him and three drivers including ex McLaren F1 driver Stephan Johansson, who said he had never been to Bathurst but it was on his bucket list of things to do before he dies.
He also spoke to a small operation in Malaysia – Nexus Racing. Team boss Adrian D’Silva was excited about the prospect of racing at The Mount. The team is competing in the Dubai 24 Hour Race in January and hopes to be able to race in the Bathurst 12 hour in February.
Brothers in Racing were also keen to come to Bathurst in February as they are also racing in the Dubai 24 hour.
Cr Aubin also had talks with David Wong of the Petronas Syntium Team who is looking at bringing a team of more than 40 people to Bathurst. Mr Wong in turn introduced him to Ulrich Fritz a senior manager of the racing arm of Mercedes Benz. They will run a two-car team.
Cr Aubin told councillors that in further follow up meetings at the Bathurst 1000, a Mercedes representative asked if there was a limit to the number of Mercedes that could race. “I told him there were 72 spots on the grid,” Cr Aubin said.
