HE had shaped as a huge chance to become part of the first driver line-up to successfully defend a Bathurst 6 Hour title, but Shane van Gisbergen has been forced to withdraw from the Easter enduro.
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Van Gisbergen won the race last year with Rob Rubis and Shane Smollen and together the trio were favourites to steer the #1 Prestige Connex BMW M4 to another win at Mount Panorama.
Unfortunately, the team confirmed late Tuesday afternoon that unplanned circumstances have forced the New Zealander to become unavailable, necessitating the driver switch.
However, Rubis and Smollen have found a more than handy replacement in Supercars talent Nick Percat.
The current Walkinshaw Andretti United driver is a former Bathurst 1000 winner, winning the Great Race in 2011 and twice finishing on the podium since then.
This weekend will make his debut in the Bathurst 6 Hour.
Percat and Smollen had combined for three seasons of racing in Porsche Carrera Cup, where they joined forces in a series of two-driver Pro/Am races with success.
The remainder of the BMW line-up remains unchanged heading into this weekend's race.
Percat's current Supercars engineer, Geoff Slater, had already been signed to engineer the car this weekend and remains on board.
The Bathurst 6 Hour starts at 11.15am Sunday morning.
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