Patrick Dempsey, aka McDreamy, to race in Bathurst?

Patrick Dempsey, the actor famous for playing Dr Derek Shepherd on hit television series Grey’s Anatomy, could be a contender at next year’s race.

The man known as McDreamy by millions of fans around the world is a serious racer and regularly competes at the biggest endurance races around the world. He has previously expressed an interest in racing at Mount Panorama and next year shapes up as his best chance.

Preparations for the 2014 race are well under way, and Councillor Warren Aubin said discussions were underway with a number of international teams and drivers, including contacts of Dempsey.

“An American by the name of Bob Faieta was the pit manager for Competition America racing at this year’s race,” Cr Aubin said.

“Back in America he looks after one of Patrick Dempsey’s cars and one of [rock guitarist] Eddie Van Halen’s.

“He said both are extremely keen to come over here.

“Since he went back there has been a string of emails back and forth about the possibility of it happening.

“To have someone like Patrick Dempsey, who is a world-famous star and very good racing driver, would be outstanding for this race.”

Next year’s 12 Hour field looks set to break all the benchmarks set by the 2013 edition.

As well as a capped field of 55 quality entries, there is the possibility of a television deal for the event.

“We are in talks with a free-to-air TV station about a three-hour live broadcast of the race. They would show the last three hours live and highlights of the first nine hours,” Cr Aubin said.

“Nothing is confirmed yet, but it’s big time. They would be putting a sizeable budget behind it.

“If that happens, it will still be streamed live over the internet. That stream has grown in popularity since we started it and attracted a worldwide audience.”

Cr Aubin said there had also been preliminary talks about the 12 Hour being part of an Asian Endurance series.

Since the rules of the event were changed from a production car-only race to allow GT3 entries to take a place, the series has grown in quality and reputation.

“It was the right move. The race we had was good for the production teams involved, but this was a natural evolution and now we have an event that will rival the Bathurst 1000,” Cr Aubin said. 

“James O’Brien [Bathurst 12 Hour event director] was at Le Mans and he was in Japan two weeks ago for the GT Series. He will be at Sepang next month talking to teams and there has been a lot of interest.”

The Bathurst 12 Hour has already attracted some big name racers, including Eric Bana in 2009 and 2010, and comedian Shane Jacobson this year.