Madeline Stewart will be making her Bathurst debut this weekend in the Bathurst 6 Hour, an experience she is excited to tick off her bucket list.
The Kiwi will be competing with ex-New Zealand team Prime Motorsport in an HSV Astra VXR over the weekend.
Ex-pat New Zealander Chris Holdt founded the team in 2012, where it raced in the North Island Endurance Series before relocating to Queensland.
Today, most of the team’s crew is still made up of Kiwis.
Stewart was slated to debut at Mount Panorama last year as part of her Super3 campaign.
However, border closures across Australia meant that Stewart would have been forced to give up two weeks to spend in managed isolation upon returning home to Queensland.
Six months later and the 20-year-old will finally get to race on the iconic New South Wales circuit, something she is thrilled to say she has done.
“I’m really excited to be racing in the Bathurst 6 Hour this weekend,” Stewart told Velocity News.
“It will be my first time racing at Bathurst, so it’ll be a huge learning experience.
“I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to race, and it’s really cool to be in a largely kiwi team. Chris Holdt has done an awesome job preparing the car, and he will be our lead driver. There are more Kiwis in the crew as well.
“We did a few laps in the car at Morgan Park last week and it felt really good. So, I’m looking forward to getting out on track at Bathurst.”
This year, Stewart has made the transition to GT machinery. She was picked up by Earl Bamber Motorsport to race in the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge series.
Over 150 drivers are set to take on the mountain in the production car endurance this weekend, with Stewart just one of several Kiwis on the entry list.
Reigning Bathurst 1000 winner Shane van Gisbergen will be behind the wheel of a BMW M4.
New Zealand Touring Car champion and Porsche Carrera Cup winner Craig Baird is set to race an HSV VE Commodore.
Defending Toyota Racing Series champion Matthew Payne is also on the entry list and is set to drive a Subaru BRZ.
The 6 Hour race will be broadcast live on Sky Sport 5 on Sunday, with the start time currently scheduled at 1.15 pm.
