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FAMILIES TO CELEBRATE EASTER BY TACKLING MOUNT PANORAMA
FAMILIES USE Easter as a time to catch up, relax and enjoy the company of loved ones each and every year – and this year’s Bathurst Motor Festival will be no different.CLICK HERE for the full Bathurst Motor Festival entry lists. Melbourne racer Stephen Grove, a front runner in Porsche Carrera Cup and a class winner in the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race, will share his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Car with 17-year-old son Brenton in the Production Sports Car races this Easter.And though it won’t be the first time that the pair have teamed up in the same car, it will be the first time that they will have done so at Bathurst.Brenton, currently completing his year 12 studies in Melbourne, began racing competitively last season when he raced in the popular Victorian Porsche 944 challenge series.He then contested the final round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia series and finished on the class podium on debut, before teaming with his old man in the Production Sports Car races at the popular Island Magic meeting last November.Though dedicating himself to completing his schooling this year, the younger Grove said the chance to race with his Dad at Bathurst was one too good to miss.”It’s been a dream to race at Bathurst since well before we got so involved in racing,” he said.”Going there every year with the team to compete in the 12-Hour just reinforced how amazing a challenge the place is. As a team we have been lucky to have some great success there with Dad, Ben Barker and Earl Bamber winning their class in 2014.”To get the opportunity to race there myself is something I didn’t expect to happen so soon, let alone to be able to do it with Dad – I absolutely can’t wait.”Grove and his racing father will tackle a pair of one-hour endurance races across the Easter long weekend, within a massive 50-plus car field that includes several leading Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour contenders amongst the entries.”Dad and I teamed up at Phillip Island last year and we had an incredible time,” he explained.”I love the teamwork and being able to work closely with him to improve my driving each time I get in the car, and then share it with him during the races. He’s got plenty of experience at Bathurst now so it’s going to be great to learn from him and then get in a race situation and see how we go.”We don’t have any real results in mind – we just want to go out there, bring the car back straight and have a great time.”The Grove family won’t be the only ones enjoying a competitive weekend at Mount Panorama during the Bathurst Motor Festival.In the NSW Production Touring Cars races, the Melbourne father and son combination of Robert and Shane Marshall are expected to be leading contenders in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.The pair have combined for the last two seasons in the Australian Manufacturers Championship and won the Sandown 3 Hour classic together last year – placing them amongst the outright favorites for the Easter races.Meanwhile, Australian Touring Car legend Glenn Seton will be watching on as his 16-year-old son, Aaron, makes his Bathurst debut – also to drive a Porsche in the Production Sports races.Seton is in his second year of competition at a national level and will race a Scott Taylor Motorsport-prepared Porsche 997 in the pair of one-hour races while his father watches on.The 2015 Bathurst Motor Festival will be held over the Easter Long weekend (April 3-5) and features three days of affordable on and off track excitement at the famous Mount Panorama circuit.