16.11.2003 TEAM LAMBORGHINI AUSTRALIA MAKE A LATE ENTRY FOR NEXT WEEKEND'S BATHURST 24 HOURS

The Lamborghini Team Australia Diablo seen competing in the 2003 Nations Cup

Lamborghini will add another exotic name to the field of crack contenders for next weekend’s Bathurst 24-Hour race, following last-minute confirmation of an entry from newly-crowned Nations Cup champions Team Lamborghini Australia.

TLA’s champion driver Paul Stokell will lead the squad in a 6.0 litre Lamborghini Diablo GTR coupe for its first attempt at the round-the-clock marathon starting at 2 pm on Saturday. The entry, in conjunction with fellow Nations Cup team Mark Coffey Racing and principal sponsor Donut King, also will see young Danish ace Allan Simonsen switch from his usual Ferrari, plus V8 Supercar driver Luke Youlden and possibly a fourth driver behind the wheel of the Lamborghini.

The team had withdrawn its original Bathurst entry, but re-considered and joined with Mark Coffey Racing as a result of popular pressure after it clinched the Donut King Australian Nations Cup Championship three weeks ago.

One of the most charismatic cars in Australian motor racing, the Lamborghini will join a grid of around fifty GT and touring cars cars for the race. Up to thirty five drivers and seven cars from Germany, Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, New Zealand, Brazil and Denmark are due to arrive in Bathurst over the next few days.

Stokell said preparation of the Lamborghini at the team’s Melbourne workshops had begun only a week ago, but he was confident the car would run the distance competitively against rivals representing Holden Monaro, Ferrari, Mosler, Porsche, Morgan and BMW.

“We’ve replaced everything, the gearbox, differential, wheel bearings, and brakes, but the car is as we’ve run it all year. It’s in pretty good shape,” he said. “As long as we look after the car, it will be fine. We’ve just got to stay off the kerbs and stroke it around to the finish.

I’m really looking forward to the race, he continued, adding, "I missed it last year and a lot of people have said they want to see the Lamborghini at Mount Panorama. The late start to preparation means Allan and Luke haven’t had a chance to test the Diablo, but that shouldn’t be a problem. They’ll really only have to do one fast lap, in qualifying, and then it’s a case of settling in for a long, long race.”

The Bathurst 24-Hour field will take a rolling start on Saturday after the command “Drivers, start your engines”, issued by Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, gets the warm-up lap under way.