'Not going there to come 10th': Ryan adamant on Bathurst defence

Erebus Motorsport is going to Mount Panorama with the clear intention to win again, insists team boss Barry Ryan.

The Melbourne squad heads to rural New South Wales as the defending champions, having dominated last year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.

Last October, Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood combined to lead 157 of 161 laps, winning from pole. It marked the second Great Race win for Erebus following its 2017 triumph at the hands of David Reynolds and Luke Youlden in a rain-affected epic.

Kostecki, Hazelwood and key engineers departed for Dick Johnson Racing in the off-season, with rookie Cooper Murray joining Jack Le Brocq.

Heading to the first enduro at The Bend, Le Brocq and Murray sat 16th and 23rd in points with a combined haul of 10 top 10s, and along with PremiAir Racing, has yet to claim a podium this season. Should Erebus go back-to-back, they would not only overturn their current form, but also public opinion. In a Supercars.com fan poll, only one Erebus car has polled.

In a return to form, Murray and Jobe Stewart impressed to seventh at The Bend, with the former one of the standouts last year driving Triple Eight’s wildcard. Stewart, meanwhile, dominated the Bathurst Super2 opener last year, and held his own among full-time stars during his stint at The Bend to increase his main game stocks.

When asked on Supercars’ Cool Down Lap presented by Moza Racing podcast about Erebus’s chances, Ryan was adamant: "Up inside the 10? No, we're going to go and win it.

"Cooper is really fast at Bathurst, Jobe is really fast, so we're going there to win it. We're not going there to come 10th.”

Erebus has long been a factor at the Mountain; beyond 2017 and 2024, the team claimed podiums in 2021 and 2023 with Kostecki/David Russell and fell just short in 2022, while Reynolds infamously cramped up while leading in 2018.

The Dandenong-based squad now has extra motivation to win on October 12, given Kostecki and Hazelwood dominated at The Bend, albeit with a different team.

The Peter Brock Trophy has taken pride of place at team owner Betty Klimenko’s home in New South Wales’ Southern Highlands. The Chevrolet squad’s mission is to keep hold of the iconic trophy, with Murray telling media before The Bend: “Erebus have a strong history at Bathurst, every time they go there they seem to turn up.

"Back at the workshop for at least half of this year, we have already being talking about making sure we’re best prepared as we possibly can be once we get to Bathurst to have the best chance we can."

Track action at Mount Panorama commences on Thursday October 9.