Los Angeles based New Zealand racing driver Matt Halliday is heading into what he describes as the most exciting part of each motor racing year. He has just arrived in New South Wales for the annual Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000 to be held at the legendary Mt Panorama circuit as Round 11 of the Australian V8 Supercars Championship. The event will also form the second round of the newly instigated Pirtek Enduro Cup.
This year marks Halliday’s ninth visit to the hallowed mountain with his best result to date being 4th place overall driving with Jason Bright in a Holden Commodore in 2010. For this season’s V8 Supercar Endurance races, he is again partnering Aussie driver Dean Fiore but with a new team – Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport – piloting the Dodo Insurance Holden Commodore.
The duo contested the recent Wilson Security Sandown 500 finishing 18th overall but Halliday showed the new generation Commodore has good racing pace by climbing to 15th place from the rear of the grid during his opening stint. With Bathurst being twice the distance, reliability will be imperative and if a good pace can be maintained then they are in with a good shot at a top ten placing:
“I really love this time of the year as heading to Mount Panorama never gets any less exciting. The car had some strong pace at times during the Sandown weekend and we are aware of a couple of things that hampered our race there which we have sorted out for this coming weekend.
“LDM is a great little team and it would be very rewarding to deliver a result for them at the biggest V8 Supercar race the year” said Halliday on his arrival in Sydney.
The duo will also campaign the car in the final Enduro meeting, the Armor All Gold Coast 600, to be held at around the streets of Surfers Paradise a fortnight after Bathurst with Halliday taking a short break in his hometown of Auckland between the two races.
