BRITISH driver Oliver Gavin returns to the famous Mount Panorama track for the third time in a year this weekend to try and tame the circuit during his second attempt at the Bathurst 12 Hour.

Gavin arrived last year as part of a four-man team driving an Audi R8 LMS 2011 model, but didn’t get to the finish line.

In October he was back once more having picked up a drive alongside Nick Percat for the Bathurst 1000 and that time, the memories were far better as he and Percat crossed the line third in their VF Commodore.

Gavin, a long-term Corvette Racing factory driver, and his Rotek Racing team set the Class B pole position time in last year’s 12 Hour and lead the race outright, before mechanical maladies resulted in an early retirement, leaving Gavin with some unfinished business.

The four-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner from Northamptonshire, England has a huge bank of experience in endurance racing to call upon.

Though he’s not as experienced as some of the local drivers, with his 2014 campaigns at the Mountain behind him he is sure his familiarity with the unforgiving Bathurst track will serve him well against a large and high-calibre field.

With an Audi R8 LMS Ultra underneath him and Rod Salmon and Nathan Antunes as team-mates, Gavin’s expectations are high.

“I am really looking forward to returning to Mount Panorama, because after the disappointment of retiring from a potentially race-winning position last year, I honestly feel there’s some unfinished business,” he said. 

“Despite that, I had so much fun in 2014 and I’m with a team that’s very well prepared and has the ability to deliver a competitive package with the Audi R8 LMS Ultra.

“The circuit has a unique and intoxicating blend of long, high-speed straights and technically demanding corners on the mountain section, which require a very precise hand. 

“It’s such a unique and amazing track and circuit knowledge is extremely vital if you are to achieve a big result. 

“It’s difficult to know for sure where you’re going to be in the pecking order, but with two successful Australian GT racers in Rod and Nathan alongside me, I reckon we have all the ingredients to be a factor in the race.”