This year’s Bathurst 1000 marks the 56th running of the famous endurance event, but more importantly the 2016 event will be celebrating the life of the great Peter Brock - 10 years on from his passing.

Coming away with a win from the recent Sandown 500, the Holden Racing Team and its drivers are feeling positive as they make the annual pilgrimage to Mt Panorama.

While in 2015 James Courtney missed what is undoubtedly the biggest event on the racing calendar due to injury, he is back at full strength and will be making his 150th event start in the Supercars Championship.

With a podium finish (3rd) in 2015 and a car that proved its competitiveness at Sandown, Garth Tander and Warren Luff are feeling confident heading to the mountain and will be eager to claim the Peter Brock Trophy in this special anniversary year.

If we take a look at the history books, the Holden Racing Team has fared very well contesting The Great Race:
• HRT holds the record for the most number of pole positions -7
• No active team has won more race wins than HRT – 7
• HRT sits just one off matching the all-time Bathurst wins record which is held by the Holden Dealer Team – 8.
The Bathurst 1000 is a race which has proved anything can, and will happen. Don’t forget this is the only Supercars race of the year which is not time certain, so on Sunday teams will fight it out for the full 161-lap distance.

FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT

Garth Tander, #2 Holden VF Commodore:
“Obviously I’m looking forward to Bathurst. The best form is winning form and that is certainly what we are taking with us at the moment. Warren did an awesome job last year at Bathurst and he showed again what a great job he can do at Sandown. Both of us are really excited and looking forward to the race, and hopefully we can have a successful weekend.”

Warren Luff, #2 Holden VF Commodore:
“It was great to be on the podium at Bathurst last year. We are coming off the back of a very strong Sandown where we had great car speed and were able to win, so we are very confident heading to the next event.”

“The challenge heading to Bathurst is you only get to race there once a year and it’s such a daunting track. The first time you go out in practice one you look at the time sheets and wonder how you clocked the times you did the year before. As the track gets better and you get more confident that all comes back.”

James Courtney, #22 Holden VF Commodore:
“I’m looking forward to making our annual pilgrimage to Bathurst again this year, unfortunately last year I was there in attendance but I wasn’t driving which was frustrating. So it’s been two years since I’ve driven around there and I am really looking forward to getting there and hopefully getting a good result with Jack.”

Jack Perkins, #22 Holden VF Commodore:
“I am really excited for Bathurst, it is our biggest race of the year and I’m looking forward to actually racing with James this year. The team showed we had really good speed at Sandown, we didn’t quite get the strategy right and a couple of things didn’t go our way but obviously with car #2 winning it puts us all in good stead.”

“I know James is pretty pumped up as is Warren and Garth so we can’t wait to get there. I’m just in awe of the place every time we go and the first thing I want to do is drive a slow lap in the rental car. The first practice lap around there is breathtaking, then you settle in for the weekend.”