Triple Eight Race Engineering has confirmed that new signing Will Brown will debut for the team at next month’s Bathurst 12 Hour.
Brown will join his 2024 Supercars teammate Broc Feeney and Mercedes-AMG factory driver Mikaël Grenier to compete in the Pro class in a Mercedes-AMG GT3.
“It’s been great here at Triple Eight so far,” said Brown. “It’s obviously a massive change for me this year moving teams, and now doing the Bathurst 12 Hour, it’s a lot to take in very early in the year.
“It’s not my first time at the 12 Hour, but it’s going to be my first race with Triple Eight. It allows myself to work closely with the team before we get to the first Supercars event the weekend after, so even though we’re going there to try and win the 12 Hour, it’s a great way for me to familiarise myself with the entire team.
“It’s great to have Broc as my new teammate. I’ve known Broc for years, I knew him when he was racing Toyota 86, he actually bought my car off me and it’s great being able to work with him. It’s funny though, you’ve come from being competitors last year and now we’re teammates. We get along great, and hopefully, we have a lot of fun racing.
“Broc has done a lot of miles in these GT cars; we’ve seen what he’s done in Asia which is really cool. I haven’t done as much, so I will be looking at his footage and data, but we have a test day coming up, so it will be great to learn from him and the team then.”
Feeney, who raced alongside Shane van Gisbergen and Maximilian Gotz on the way to fifth in last year’s enduro, says he’s looking forward to the event.
“The Bathurst 12 Hour is one of my favourite events of the year, so I can’t wait to get back there.
“The National Storage car looks awesome, and I can’t wait to see it around the mountain. I’ve been using the off-season to try and get as fit as possible, and we have a test day along with some Supercars preparation, so plenty will be happening over the coming weeks.
“Having back-to-back events at The Mountain is going to be awesome. If I could race at Bathurst every week, I would, so doing two in a row in some cool cars is exciting. I love driving these GT cars and Bathurst is the best track for it.
“It’s exciting to have Will (Brown) on the team for his first event with Triple Eight as well. Having a weekend working with him before we get to the first Supercars event will be pretty crucial. To have someone like Mikaël and his experience join us is going to be invaluable as well.
“Last year, we qualified on the front row, which was awesome, but we lacked in the race, so hopefully a bit more experience from myself and the team with these cars will help, and the goal is to be right up there at the end of the race against some super-fast guys in the field.
“It’s going to be challenging, but that’s why I love this race – you race against the best guys in the world on home soil.”
Brown and Feeney will henceforth be racing at Mount Panorama over two consecutive weekends, with the Supercars season-opening Bathurst 500 taking place a weekend later.
At least six Supercars drivers will line up in Australia’s longest enduro; the others confirmed being Thomas Randle, Cam Waters, Chaz Mostert and Jaxon Evans.
The 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour begins on Friday, February 16.
