Superb Six: The fresh faces to tackle Bathurst

A raft of new blood has their sights set on Mount Panorama this October, with a bumper rookie-line-up to headline this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.

Six drivers from the next generation of Supercars stars will join the Great Race grid across October 6-9. Tickets for this year's Repco Bathurst 1000 are on sale now.

The 28-car grid is the biggest for a Bathurst 1000 in nearly a decade and features three wildcard entries.

The three approved wildcards are entries from Matt Chahda Motorsport, Triple Eight Race Engineering and Erebus Motorsport.

Young guns Declan Fraser, Aaron Seton, Matt Payne, Matt Chahda, Jaylyn Robotham and Cameron Hill will make their Bathurst 1000 debuts.

Interestingly, half of the debutants will steer wildcard entries in the Great Race, with the other three co-driving with established main game teams.

All of the rookies bring a wide range of experience across various categories in Australian motorsport, from the Dunlop Super2 and Super 3 Series, to SuperUtes, Porsche Carrera Cup and TCR Australia.

Super2 series leader Fraser will share a Triple Eight Race Engineering wildcard with seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes.

The duo completed their second test day aboard the #888 Supercheap Auto Commodore on Wednesday, focussing on perfecting their driver changes.

Fraser, 22, will be one to watch at the mountain, having impressed with his dual Super2 wins this season.

A family-run entry will hand two drivers their Bathurst 1000 debut in October.

Super2 stalwart Chahda, 28, will steer a Walkinshaw Andretti United-owned Commodore with 19-year-old Robotham.

Both Robotham and Chahda are enjoying career-best seasons in the Dunlop Series, the former winning the season-opener in Sydney.

Triple Eight Super2 rookie Hill will make his first Great Race start with PremiAir Racing.

Hill will share the #22 Coca-Cola Commodore with Chris Pither.

One of the more accomplished drivers in the Super2 field, the 25-year-old won the 2021 Carrera Cup title.

He also won this year’s Bathurst 6 Hour and is the 2015 Australian Formula Ford Series winner and 2017 Toyota 86 Racing Series runner-up.

The iconic Seton name will return to the Bathurst grid in 2022, with Aaron to join aboard the #34 Truck Assist Commodore with Jack Le Brocq.

The third-generation racer is contesting his second Super2 season with Matt Stone Racing.

The 24-year-old progressed through karts and Production Cars on his way to winning the TA2 Muscle Car Series title in 2019.

Many of the rookies will be completing double duties across the weekend, with the penultimate Super2 round to also be contested at the mountain.

Payne will be one of those rookies, the Grove Racing junior co-driving with Lee Holdsworth in the Great Race, before jumping back into his #10 Nissan Altima.

The 19-year-old has claimed two Super2 wins and two podiums this season and is slated to rise to the main game in 2023.

Tickets for this year's Repco Bathurst 1000 are on sale now.

2022 Repco Bathurst 1000 combinations