THIS year’s Bathurst 1000 will have just four manufacturers, with V8 Supercars outfit Erebus Motorsport ditching Mercedes in favour of Holden.

The team confirmed on Wednesday it has chosen to race VF Commodores in 2016 instead of E63 AMGs, three years after entering the series.

It means that this year’s Great Race, which will be contested on October 9, will have Holden, Ford, Nissan and Volvo represented on the grid.

The best result that Erebus managed in the Bathurst 1000 while running the E63 AMGs, the only two of their type worldwide, was a fourth in 2014. It belonged to the car driven by brothers Will and Alex Davison.

Holden sits ahead of Ford as Australia’s most successful marque, with 496 championship race wins and 19 Touring Car/V8 Supercar titles. 

Holdens have also won 30 editions of Bathurst’s Great Race, the most recent coming last year when Craig Lowndes and Steve Richards claimed the chequered flag in their Red Bull Racing Commodore.

Erebus Motorsport owner Betty Klimenko, who has won the Bathurst 12 Hour with a Mercedes, is confident the change will make the team more competitive.

“Erebus has experienced success, but with the switch to Holden combined with our experienced team personnel in Barry Ryan and Campbell Little, and David Reynolds behind the wheel, we have every chance to win more often,” she said in a statement.

Reynolds, who replaces Will Davison following his defection to Tekno, made his debut in a Commodore but hasn’t raced a Holden in the ‘Car of the Future’ era.

“I’m very, very excited – when I first signed up I didn’t know this was going to happen, so it’s come as a bit of a surprise for me,” Reynolds said.

“I made my V8 Supercars debut in a Commodore, but since I last raced a Holden the series moved into the Car Of The Future era. 

“Since then, the VF Commodore has proven to be the car of choice and I see the change to Holden as a positive for Erebus Motorsport.

“I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of a Commodore and together with Erebus growing a strong relationship with Holden.”

Erebus will still race a pair of Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3s in next month’s Bathurst 12 Hour.

Their driver line-up for those two cars is yet to be announced.