Triple 8 Race Engineering have revealed the driver line-ups for a two car Mercedes AMG entry for the 2024 Repco Bathurst 12 Hours next month.
The #888 Pro class Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be piloted by Supercar outfit Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Broc Feeney, and the team’s newest recruit Will Brown, who will compete in his first race for Triple Eight after being signed by the powerhouse team.
Joining the team’s Supercars stars is Mercedes AMG’s factory driver, Mikaël Grenier.
The team’s 2023 Pro entry featuring Feeney, Shane van Gisbergen and Maximilian Götz qualified on the front row for the 12-hour endurance race, before crossing the line in fifth place.
The squad’s Pro-Am Johor Motor Racing / Triple Eight car meanwhile sees Prince Jefri Ibrahim joined by former 12-Hour winner Jamie Whincup and Mercedes-AMG young gun Jordan Love.
Prince Jefri and Whincup were joined by Richie Stanaway in the 2023 event, finishing 10th outright and third in Pro-Am.
The Pro entry will be backed by self-storage provider National Storage, a long-term partner of Triple Eight Race Engineering.
“The Bathurst 12 Hour is one of my Favourite events of the year, so I can’t wait to get back there,” Feeney said.
“The National Storage car looks awesome and I can’t wait to see it around the mountain. I’ve been using the off season to try and get as fit as possible, and we have a test day coming up along with some Supercars preparation, so there’s going to be plenty happening over the coming weeks.
“Having back-to-back events at The Mountain is going to be awesome. If I could race at Bathurst every week I would, so to do two in-a-row in some pretty cool cars is exciting. I love driving these GT cars and Bathurst is the best track for it.
“It’s exciting to have Will (Brown) on the team for his first event with Triple Eight as well. To have a weekend working with him before we get to the first Supercars event is going to be pretty crucial. To have someone like Mikaël and his experience join us is going to be invaluable as well.
“Last year, we qualified on the front row which was awesome, but we lacked in the race, so hopefully a bit more experience from myself and the team with these cars will help, and the goal is to be right up there at the end of the race against some super-fast guys in the field.
“It’s going to be challenging, but that’s why I love this race – you race against the best guys in the world on home soil.”
Triple Eight’s new recruit Brown said he was looking forward to joining the team for his debut in 12-Hour mode, before switching to Supercars mode a week later.
“It’s been great here at Triple Eight so far. It’s obviously a massive change for me this year moving teams, and now doing the Bathurst 12 Hour, it’s a lot to take in very early in the year.
“It’s not my first time at the 12 Hour, but it’s going to be my first race with Triple Eight.
“It allows myself to work closely with the team before we get to the first Supercars event the weekend after, so even though we’re going there to try and win the 12 Hour, it’s a great way for me to familiarize myself with the entire team.
“It’s great to have Broc as my new teammate. I’ve known Broc for years, I knew him when he was racing Toyota 86, he actually bought my car off me and it’s great being able to work with him.
It’s funny though, you’ve come from being competitors last year and now we’re teammates. We get along great and hopefully we have a lot of fun racing.
“Broc has done a lot of miles in these GT cars; we’ve seen what he’s done in Asia which is really cool. I haven’t done as much so I’m definitely going to be looking at his footage and data, but we have a test day coming up so it will be great to learn from him and the team then.”
Prince Ibrahim finished third in the 12-Hour in 2022 driving for JMR / Triple Eight in addition to his 2023 class podium and has contested both the Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia and Asia seasons since last year’s 12 Hours with success finishing seventh in the championship last year, despite missing two rounds. He has added the Asian Le Mans Series to his racing programme this year.
Love, recently signed as a Mercedes-AMG junior driver, is a two-time one-make champion in Porsche racing prior to shifting to the rival brand in pursuit of a career in GT3 competition.
He contested the 2023 12-Hour with Volante Rosso Motorsport – finishing one position behind Whincup and Ibrahim in the Johor Motor Racing entry – before contesting key events in Europe with the Haupt Racing Team – including the Spa and Nürburgring 24 Hours.
He finished 8th outright and 4th overall at the Nürburgring in a strong performance in the iconic around-the-clock enduro.
Whincup tackled four rounds of GT World Challenge Australia in 2024, with four podium finishes alongside Prince Abu Ibrahim.
He also returned to the Repco Supercars Championship to tackle the enduros with Broc Feeney, winning the Sandown 500 for the sixth time in his career.
