{"id":784015,"date":"2026-07-07T04:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T04:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784015\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T04:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T04:05:13","slug":"sro-gt-news-volante-rosso-acquires-bathurst-12-hour-podium-finisher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784015\/","title":{"rendered":"SRO GT news: Volante Rosso acquires Bathurst 12 Hour podium finisher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5f12af46cb91b43a3aee2277_Ben-Barnicoat-Garage-59-GTWC.jpg\" alt=\"Volante Rosso acquires Bathurst 12 Hour podium finisher\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t59Racing finished second in the 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour with its McLaren 720S GT3, driven by Ben Barnicoat, Tom Blomqvist and Alvaro Parente.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercheapauto.com.au\/catalogue-out-now\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1036058 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SCA-1196-Wk1-Cat-BPO-Speedcafe_728x90.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The team expects to receive the car in the coming weeks, joining the fleet alongside its Aston Martin Vantage.<\/p>\n<p>With very few races under its belt, the car has a short but successful history on Australian soil.<\/p>\n<p>The McLaren was campaigned by 59Racing, finishing second in the 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour in the hands of Ben Barnicoat, Tom Blomqvist and Alvaro Parente.<\/p>\n<p>The car has resided in New Zealand and been rarely used since its Bathurst podium.<\/p>\n<p>Team director Josh Hunt has piloted the team\u2019s other McLaren alongside GT veteran Geoff Emery.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.com\/motorsport-news-2026-volante-rosso-motorsport-gt-world-challenge-australia-mclaren-720s-withdrawn-comments-reaction-statement-details\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The pair were unfortunately left on the sidelines last time out at Queensland Raceway after sponsorship issues arose on the Friday morning.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Due to driver commitments, the team will not be present at the next GT World Challenge Australia round at Hidden Valley in late July.<\/p>\n<p>Despite that setback, Hunt noted that the team will work to prepare the car for Round 5 in Sydney, with the possibility of entering three cars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are really pleased to expand our McLaren offering for GT racing here in Australia,\u201d said Hunt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis new car that we have secured is incredible. It is in unbelievable condition and had every option box checked from the factory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are very confident that it\u2019s not only going to be fast straight out of the box, but it will also help having a second car when it comes to track time, set-up optimisation and even spare parts spread.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMcLaren has been unbelievably helpful and supportive of our program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really believe in the brand and recent testing has unlocked some super performance we can take into the next events. We\u2019re on a great trajectory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that we won\u2019t be able to get to Hidden Valley for the next round, but it just hasn\u2019t worked out for us this year in terms of what our drivers could commit to.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt does give us the chance, though, to focus on perfecting our plans for Sydney, and if the right programs can be put together, then we might be there with both McLarens and the Aston Martin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>GT World Challenge Australia returns on July 24-26 for its first visit to Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"59Racing finished second in the 2020 Bathurst 12 Hour with its McLaren 720S GT3, driven by Ben Barnicoat,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,131633,806,805,803,804,85,353727],"class_list":["post-784015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-gt-world-challenge-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports","tag-volante-rosso-motorsport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}