November 21, 2017 | General

DOUBLE CHAMP BACK FOR NEWCASTLE

DOUBLE Touring Car Masters Champion Gavin Bullas will return to the series this weekend at the Coates Hire Newcastle 500.

Following time on the sidelines to focus on business interests and to re-build his iconic Boss Mustang the 2008 and 2009 champion will make a return to the category this weekend as the series tackles the brand-new Newcastle street circuit for the first time.

The 29-time Touring Car Masters race winner made his last start in 2015 but said the time was right for a racing return.

“(Category Manager) Tony Hunter has been hounding me for some time to come back and have a crack!†Bullas said.

“For a very long time we didn’t have the car right – it had a constant vibration that we couldn’t find. It was major work to find it but we went right through the car and found the issue and fixed it – and it’s been really good since.

“We went and did some testing at Winton and I was really happy with how it went.â€Â

Despite making his comeback on what is expected to be a tough challenging street circuit Bullas said he wasn’t worried about the location of his return.

The Mustang driver has wins at both the Adelaide 500 and the Sydney 500 at Homebush to his credit amongst his 11 round victories scored in the category.

“There’s no doubt it’s an interesting place to make a return but I thought about it and said; ‘you know what no one knows the track!’.

“It’s brand new for everyone out there and I’m generally pretty good at picking things up quickly and dialling in quickly.

“I was aiming at a Bathurst return but we couldn’t get the car ready in time so I thought ‘let’s go do some testing get it right and have a crack.’.

“I love street circuit racing and have always generally gone pretty well on those types of circuits.

“I think we can go and throw the cat amongst the pigeons!â€Â

With more than 110-races to his credit in the category Bullas is one of the most experienced and successful drivers in TCM history.

His 29 race wins and 11 round victories place him only behind John Bowe on the category’s winners list while 25 round podiums rank him only behind Bowe and the legendary Jim Richards.

As well as winning the 2008 and 2009 titles Bullas finished second in TCM’s inaugural year in 2007 – behind Steve Mason – and again in 2010 that time narrowly behind Jim Richards.