Kiwi ace targets B12hr return

NOTED KIWI star Johnny Reid is hoping the growth of GT3 racing in the region will allow him to tackle the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour in 2018, according to New Zealand motorsport site, Velocity News. 

The former Dick Johnson Racing Supercars driver and seven-time A1 Grand Prix race winner will link with Tony Quinn in this weekends round of the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Reid briefly raced in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship in 2013 - before being replaced by Chaz Mostert - and in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship the two seasons prior.

The Auckland driver has one B12hr start to his credit, winning Class B in 2013 driving a Hunter Sports Group Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car with Steven Johnson and Drew Russell.

Spending recent years focusing on his young family, Reid has recently been racing in the North Island Endurance Championship in New Zealand with regular 12-hour competitors International Motorsport.

He will this weekend race with Tony Quinn in a McLaren 650S GT3 in the 501km race to be held on Saturday morning of the Supercars Red Rooster Super Sprint event.

"Dan (Gaunt) texted me asking if I was available since Tony Quinn was looking for somebody. So I gave Tony a call, and it was really that simple!” Reid told Velocitynews.co.nz.

“..driving this car, it could lead on to the Bathurst 12 Hours or something like that, which I certainly would look at. There's some stuff potentially happening in the background that may or may not come off, but that's part of the excitement of the process.”

Reid said the addition of the Hampton Downs 12-Hour next year was further motivation to get back behind the wheel.

The new event, announced last month, is set to join Bathurst and the Sepang 12 Hour on the regional calendar of major GT3-based endurance races.

“To see Hampton Downs now hosting a 12-hour event potentially next year, that's just fantastic. We need more of that. To bring that all together, it starts to align an Oceania/Asia alliance within the GT categories, which I think is really important. There's plenty of interest, and plenty of money to be fair that the sport needs, and potential sponsorship opportunities that could spin off from events like that.”

Click here to read the full article on Velocity News.

PHOTO: Johnny Reid on the 2013 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour podium.