CHRISTOPHER Mies is keen to make a wildcard Supercars start in the Repco Bathurst 1000.

The two-time Bathurst 12 Hour winner, who is still Mount Panorama’s outright lap record holder in an unrestricted GT3 Audi, has long been eager to book a return trip to race in October.

The German GT ace’s cause has been helped by his move last year from Audi, his long-time home, to Ford, where Mies is among the pool of factory GT3 pilots deployed to teams around the world on the Blue Oval’s behalf.

He is keen for it to find a way to send him to the Mountain for Supercars’ crown jewel event.

“I’m asking a lot! I’m on the phone to Ford in America, Ford Racing a lot to have a wildcard entry for Bathurst,” Mies told selected media, including V8 Sleuth.

“That would be an absolute dream. Obviously it has to be funded and everything.”

Mies isn’t underestimating the scale of the challenge that he would face, and wouldn’t want to embark on a wildcard program without a proper testing or acclimatisation period on track in a Gen3 Mustang.

“It’s a high class race. You can also not just show up here and think you’re going to beat those guys,” Mies said.

“We have seen how good Broc (Feeney) is – incredible – but then also having Cam Waters doing the pole, beating the (factory) Mercedes drivers, so you can see that track knowledge here is super crucial and obviously those guys are also super, super talented, so it needs the right preparation. 

“It needs to be the right time and you need to be comfortable and then in the end I would love to do it, no question.”

Mies is also very open to a co-drive, a path beaten by fellow GT ace Kevin Estré who starred with Grove Racing in the 2023 enduros, although no teams have reached out to him to date.

“In the end it has to go through Ford Racing anyway because I’m a works driver for them, but they have plenty of teams,” he said.

“Like I said, I don’t want to jump into it cold. It also needs to be the right preparation.

“But yeah, obviously if I get the call… in the end they don’t even have to call me; just book me the flights and I’ll be here!”

Christopher Mies, Dennis Olsen and Broc Feeney at the Bathurst 12 Hour. Pic: Ross Gibb

Mies already has prior, albeit limited, experience behind the wheel of a Gen3 Mustang.

Last January, he drove the car owned by Ford America at the Charlotte Roval as a surprise present for winning the GT3 class in that year’s Daytona 24 Hour.

“It was really cool, I liked it,” he said.

“I would say it’s a bit more old school. You use all three pedals, you use the gear shifter, you do a heel and toe, do the blip and stuff.

“I was really enjoying it (at Charlotte) and then I got the chance again to do a show run for the Ford employees in Detroit where I drove it on a (closed) public road. 

“Mike (Rockefeller) drove the Mustang GT3, I drove the Supercar and we had some drag races and burnouts and stuff, so that was really cool.”

Despite his gruesome exit from Sunday’s Bathurst 12 Hour, where Mies was coated with blood and guts from hitting a kangaroo at 250km/h, the incident hasn’t dimmed his desire to race at Mount Panorama.

“No, I mean it’s the same like crashing the car or crashing with another competitor; it happened,” Mies explained.

“It’s just a shame that if you do a mistake and you crash the car, the race is done and you’re pissed about yourself, but hitting an animal, a kangaroo, it’s just disappointing (and) it’s not the way you want to retire from a race.”

Mies has suggested that the Bathurst 12 Hour should start later in the morning in order to avoid the risk of drivers striking kangaroos in dark pre-dawn conditions.

Jack Perkins on his dramatic Bathurst 1000 debut

AS far as inauspicious Bathurst 1000 debuts go, Jack Perkins’ first crack at the Great Race in 2006 will sadly go down as one of the toughest.