By Johan Laubscher
On Tuesday news emerged regarding the two-car Bathurst 12 Hour entry from Phoenix Racing. The liveries for the two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars have been revealed along with a change to the driver line-ups of both cars.
The liveries feature a new version of the familiar black "Kangaroo" livery on the #15 Audi R8 LMS ultra and also the return of the legendary "Crocodile" livery for the #16 Audi R8 LMS ultra. The original "Crocodile" livery was first seen on an Audi R8 more than a decade ago when Allan McNish and Dindo Capello drove their #77 Audi R8 to victory at the 2000 American Le Mans Series finale hosted at Adelaide in Australia (pictured above).
The driver line-ups for the two cars needed to be changed following René Rast's departure from the Phoenix Racing Bathurst entry due to his new sportscar program. Laurens Vanthoor will now be switching cars for the race Down Under. He was originally entered in the #16 "Crocodile"Audi R8 LMS ultra, but he will now be joining Markus Winkelhock and Marco Mapelli in the #15 "Kangaroo" car. His seat in the #16 "Crocodile" Audi will now be filled by Stéphane Ortelli, who will be sharing the car with Felix Baumgartner and Christopher Haase.
Phoenix Racing will be aiming to win their third Bathurst 12 Hour this year. They were previously victorious in 2011 and 2012. Their two Audi R8 LMS ultra cars will be lining up alongside five more R8 LMS ultra entries and one Audi TT RS, making it a total of eight Audi race cars on the grid at Mount Panorama.
The 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour will be taking place from 6-8 February.
Photo credit: Audi Communications - Motorsport
