WALKINSHAW Andretti United, Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth weren’t the only winners at the Repco Bathurst 1000 – their winning car’s next owners just scored themselves a Bathurst 1000-winning car.
The Bathurst-winning #25 Commodore ZB, chassis WR 026 and due to be the last Gen2 chassis built by the team, debuted at the beginning of the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship and has been driven all season by Mostert.
The now two-time Bathurst 1000 winner drove the car to victory in Race 8 this year at Symmons Plains and also Race 12 at Hidden Valley before its win in the final race of the season, Race 31, at Bathurst.
The car, auctioned in September and sold for a reported $610,000 via WAU partner Lloyds Auctions to an-at-the-time undisclosed buyer, will continue to be used by the team for next year’s championship, the final year of the current regulations before the introduction of Gen3 in 2023.
It will be delivered in full running condition, including engine, to its new owners at the completion of the 2022 season in its 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000-winning specification and livery or any other livery the new owners wish to place it in from either the 2021 or 2022 season.
V8 Sleuth can exclusively reveal that Dunlop Super2 Series driver Zane Morse’s father Andre and team sponsor Mark Siracusa from Brema Group Racing were the winning bidders for the car in the auction, with the plan to use it in the 2023 Dunlop Super2 Series when the current Gen2 cars become eligible for the development category.
Morse Snr posted on social media last night though that he’s “still not sure if Zane will ever get to race it though!” given its Bathurst 1000 win and instant collectable status.
22-year-old Morse has competed in the Super2 category last year and this year in a Triple Eight-built Commodore VF chassis originally built in 2013 and initially used by Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.
He drove one of the WAU team’s Commodores recently at a Driver Evaluation Day at Winton in October.
It’s the second year in a row that the Bathurst 1000-winning car has already been sold before the car won The Great Race.
The #97 Red Bull car that Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander drove to victory at Bathurst in 2020 – the same car the duo drove in this year’s race – was already spoken for before its pilots won the Peter Brock Trophy.
