Engine failure leads to car swap

A rapid-fire car change will see M Motorsport/Vantage Racing switch cars for the 2023 LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour.

An engine failure in the team’s Invitational Class KTM X-Bow GT2 in Practice 2 saw the car forced out of the event.

Rather than withdrawing, the team has leased Melbourne Performance Centre’s spare Audi R8 LMS.

The team is now preparing the car to run in Friday’s fourth and final practice session this afternoon.

“We came this far, and I was heartbroken when the car failed coming out of turn two,” Vantage Racing’s David Crampton explained.

“We’ve come this far, spent the money and a huge amount of effort to get to this point so we weren’t about to pack up.

The stricken KTM

“We’ve leased this car from MPC and we’ll get in the race, whatever we do.”

The team sought and received dispensation from event organisers to switch vehicles, which was immediately granted.

The replacement Audi R8 LMS will now be entered in the Silver class.

The change may also force a change to the driver roster regarding Jayden Ojeda.

Ojeda will likely to be forced out of the four-driver squad due to his driver rating not fitting the requirements for the class.

It will likely leave Crampton to be joined by Glenn Wood and Trent Harrison.

Practice 4 will commence at 4:10pm local time.