Twenty cars for GT World Challenge Australia debut

The successor to the Australian GT Championship will welcome a trio of established Supercars stars at The Island, headlined by Jamie Whincup. The seven-time Supercars champ has been drafted into Triple Eight's line-up for the injured Shane van Gisbergen, and will share the team's Mercedes with Prince Jefri Ibrahim.

Triple Eight enduro driver Garth Tander will also be in action alongside Yasser Shahin in the The Bend-backed Audi, while Chaz Mostert will partner Tony Bates in another of Melbourne Performance Centre's R8s.

New Triple Eight part-owner and former Australian GT boss Tony Quinn is also among the field driving his Aston Martin, while Kelly Grove Racing part-owners Stephen and Brenton Grove will share their Porsche.

There will be eight different brands on the grid, with eight cars in the championship class, 11 in the trophy class, and a sole GT4 entry.

“Twenty cars for the return of top-line GT racing is a great result for the first event and I’m proud of the entrants who are getting back in their awesome cars and entertaining us all,” said category manager Collier.

“It actually looked like we were going to have even more than 20 cars, but a couple of teams withdrew late, so the good news there is that we know the interest is there for GT3 racing in Australia.

“With big events coming up soon at Mount Panorama and The Bend, I wouldn’t be surprised if we have over 25 cars entering sooner rather than later.

“And there’s a great calibre of drivers and cars there too. It’s almost too hard to predict who is going to win, so it’s going to make for some great viewing, whether you are at home watching the TV, or trackside at Phillip Island.”