SEVEN Great Race victors will form part of one of the most talented grids in the history of the Bathurst 12 Hour this week, a grid which Garth Tander knows will make finding further success at Mount Panorama a huge ask.
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Tander boasts three Bathurst 1000 victories and 22 starts in the 161-lap epic, making him one of the most experienced drivers in terms of laps at Mount Panorama in this year's field.
He will share the seat of one of the three Audi Sport Team Valvoline Audi R8 LMS' which have been entered in this year's 12 Hour with Christopher Mies and Mirko Bortolotti.
Tander won't be the only Bathurst 1000 victor on the grid either.
Chaz Mostert (Wolkenhorst BMW M6), Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight Mercedes), Craig Lowndes (Earl Bamber Motorsport Porsche), Rick Kelly (R - Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR), Nick Percat (MARC II) and David Reynolds (SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes) will also tackle the internationally renowned enduro.
Prior experience at Mount Panorama is an asset which will aid all seven, but as Tander points out, they will need more than that to find success come Sunday's 12 Hour battle.
"The 12 Hour event now is just crazy competitive, all the factory teams that are here, all the factory drivers - so my eight other team-mates are all full factory Audi drivers and it's the same for all the other manufacturers, they've brought all their factory drivers," Tander, who's best 12 Hour result was eighth on debut in 2016, said.
"It's a tough race, really, really tough race. People try to compare it to the 1000, but it's a very different type of race, a 12 Hour sprint.
"Really looking forward to it, I think we've got a really good chance, our cars have always been competitive at Bathurst in the 12 Hour, so let's hope this year is our year."
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As well as those six former Great Race victors, others with a host of Bathurst 1000 starts to their credit like Shane van Gisbergen, Lee Holdsworth, Tim Slade, Anton de Pasquale, Dean Canto, Warren Luff and Dean Fiore will line up on the grid.
This year's edition features 39 cars from a record 11 different GT3 manufacturers, while the field is comprised of drivers from 21 countries.
There are record nine former 12 Hour winners, including two of the defending champions in Matt Campbell and Dirk Werner, plus Bathurst 24 Hour and Bathurst 6 Hour race winners.
Current champions of the Nurburgring 24 Hour Dries Vanthoor and Frederic Vervisch plus Le Mans class champions Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber are on the entry list as well. The on-track action starts Friday.
