One year after taking out the event in a Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, two-time winner Bowe will return to steer a car making its debut in the bathurst 12 Hour – the Bentley Continental GT3.

Bowe’s Flying B Racing team, completed by car owner Peter Edwards and former American Le Mans Series champion David Brabham, are aiming to give the outright class a shakeup with their big, front-engined monster. 

Despite some hiccups of late with the car, Bowe is still looking forward to driving the Bentley on a Mount Panorama track that he believes will bring out its strengths.

“It was Peter Edwards’ decision to go with the Bentley. I’ve been a coach and mentor for him you could say, because he didn’t start driving young like a lot of others, and he decided that was the thing to do this year,” he said.

“It’s certainly been an interesting car. We took it over to race in New Zealand where it was having some steering problems. It’s hampered us and stopped us from really getting on top of the car. We’ve got some things to come though should help us with that.

“It is big car. Very big. After the Ferrari which was smaller and rear-engined, you couldn’t have gone to something more on the other extreme than this. I think it’s got a lot of potential and obviously Bentley think so too, because they’re bringing out two factory entries of their own.

“I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t suit Mount Panorama. Front-engine cars tend to be much more forgiving because when you’re sitting closer to the rear of the car, you tend to get a bit of a better response. What I like though is that these GT cars achieve similar results through different methods.”

Bowe teamed up with Craig Lowndes, Mika Salo and Edwards to take out last year’s race for Maranello Motorsport in a thrilling finish ahead of the HTP Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 entry. 

His other win in the event came back in 1995 in a Mazda RX-7.

“I won this race in a Mazda, and it was still an interesting race then, but now it’s world class,” he said.

“The change to allow GT3 cars to race was a stroke of genius. It’s now something that’s on everyone’s radar. It’s a capacity field with the best teams and drivers in the world. We’re lucky to have something like this now in our country. The fact that the local council gets behind it so well really helps.

“There’s hardly any manufacturer in the world now who isn’t getting into GT3 racing. Even Lexus have recently looked into it. The parity is fantastic right now.”

While Bowe is unable to have the services of Lowndes this year due to the scheduling conflict with a V8 Supercars test day, he is happy to be part of a strong team.

“I’ve known David Brabham since he was young. Firstly, he’s a great bloke and has carved out great international success as an Australian, but he’s also got that Bentley connection already,” he said.

“I’m really disappointed that we can’t have a first-class driver like Craig, who was the lynchpin of our success last year and not to mention he’s a great bloke. This is just TV networks trying to flex their muscles.

“It’s all about ego, and that’s an unfortunate part of life. It’s all just about the networks. Those trying to say that V8 Supercars themselves are behind this – that’s not it.”

This year’s Bathurst 12 Hour sees nine different manufacturers taking on Class A.

Edwards’ Bentley is the only private entry for the manufacturer but the factory-backed outfits will bring a pair out from the United Kingdom to race.

Bowe isn’t talking up his team’s own chances, but is interested to see if one manufacturer in particular can bounce back this time around.

“That McLaren is still a weapon and the Mercedes is still going to be a hard car to beat. If I had to pick a winner though I’d say it’s going to be an Audi, because they’re quite good at keeping up the evolution of their car,” he said.

“That evolution is what makes this class so interesting, strategic and difficult.”