Shane van Gisbergen is the latest V8 Supercars star to land a drive in this weekend’s Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour.
The 24-year-old racer from New Zealand has been confirmed as the fourth driver in the VIP McLaren MP4-12C, according to Speedcafe.com.
He’ll join reigning Australian GT champion Klark Quinn, Tony Quinn and McLaren GT project manager Andrew Kirkaldy behind the wheel of the mid-engined sports car, which is among the 15-strong GT3 entries that will be fighting for overall victory.
It will mark van Gisbergen’s second consecutive Bathurst 12 Hour start with the VIP squad, having driven to a third place finish in last year’s race in a Porsche 997 GT3 R.
“Shane drove with us last year and we have the V8 connection with him,” team boss Tony Quinn told Speedcafe.com. “He and Andrew will do their best to be heroes for sure. I think they will set the car up so it is able to do the job.
“I think there are plenty teams who will probably go harder and faster but I think the clever ones will be the teams that just keep pedaling away.”
Van Gisbergen is fresh off making his U.S. sports car racing debut in last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytoba, having co-driven Alex Job Racing’s Porsche 911 GT America to an eighth place finish in the GT Daytona class.
The Tekno Autosports driver joins fellow full-time V8 Supercars drivers Craig Lowndes, Will Davison, Jason Bright, Rick Kelly and Dale Wood in this year’s around-the-clock enduro.
