BATHURST: 1000 winners team up for 12-hour race

Bathurst 1000 winners Mark Skaife, Russell Ingall and Tony Longhurst will team up in a factory-backed BMW M6 GT3 in next year's Bathurst 12 Hour.

The trio, who have 10 Bathurst 1000 wins between them, will drive one of two GT M6s already being run in Australia by Steven Richards Motorsport in the February 3-5 event.

Skaife and Longhurst have won Bathurst together before, in 2001 with the Holden Racing team, but Skaife and Ingall famously clashed at Eastern Creek in '03 as part of an often-fiery Supercars rivalry.

"It's a very exciting project," Skaife said. "It's one of those things that came out of nowhere, really.Who would have thought I'd have a teammate like Russell Ingall at some stage, and to be rejoining Tony Longhurst after winning in 2001 is fantastic.

"We want to go there and do a good solid job. You can't go to a place like Bathurst and not feel comfortable, you have to go there and be able to drive the car well.

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't think we would enjoy the experience and be able to do it properly."

Skaife's racing has been limited since he effectively retired after the 2011 Supercars endurance races, while Longhurst – who won an Australian Super Touring title for BMW – has also spent time on the sidelines in recent years.

Ingall, meanwhile, stepped down from full-time Supercars competition at the end of 2014 and has been a co-driver since, including with Nissan Motorsport alongside Rick Kelly this year.

"You look at the Bathurst wins between the three of us, this is people who know how to win Bathurst and are very passionate about racing," Ingall said. "Make no mistake, we are taking this seriously. We're going there to try and win the race. I'm looking forward to getting to Bathurst and having a big swing at it."

Current Supercars stars Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup will also team up in the race, driving a Ferrari 488 GT3 run in a partnership between their regular Triple Eight outfit and GT squad Maranello Motorsport.

Originally on Autosport.com