Alessandro Latif gets his 2015 season underway by making his Bathurst 12 Hours debut “Down Under” next month (6-8 February).
The 18-year-old Londoner continues his association with Audi Sport customer racing teams by racing an R8 LMS ultra for the Melbourne Performance Centre alongside Australia duo, Warren Luff and “gentleman” driver Greg Crick.
“I’m very excited about going to Australia for the first time, fulfilling a dream to race at the challenging Bathurst circuit, making my maiden appearance for the MPC team and racing an Audi again,” commented Alessandro.
The 2015 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour at the iconic Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, will feature a grid of over 50-cars to rival any major GT endurance race.
Latif continued: “I won’t get the opportunity to test at Bathurst in advance of the race week so I’ll be doing my homework watching ‘on-boards’ and in the simulator. It looks like a beautiful circuit with some very, very tricky sections that includes the infamous Mountain.
“Throw in the traffic ‘management’ that will be required with such a large field and it’s obvious it will be a demanding challenge.”
Alessandro raced an Audi R8 LMS in the Daytona 24 Hour, Sebring 12 Hour and the 10 Hour Petit Le Mans races in North America last year for the Flying Lizard Motorsports team, achieving fifth, eighth and 12th places in the GTD category.
In Europe Latif, competing in GT racing for the first time, won the Blancpain Sprint Series Pro-Am Trophy racing an Audi R8 LMS ultra for Phoenix Racing with co-driver Marc Basseng.
“I have never previously raced with Warren [Luff] or Greg [Crick] but that applied to many of my races last year,” added Latif. “Both have a lot experience around Mt. Panorama so I’ll be looking to learn from them.”
The best GT cars, teams and drivers from around the world have been attracted to the 12 Hour race that starts at 5:50am (local) on Sunday 8 February.
He continued: “Bathurst is not only a classic, stand alone event but by taking place in Australia, it opens myself up the important Austro‐Asiatic region that continues to grow in stature at a very fast rate.
“Unfortunately an accident by my team-mate in qualifying for the Blancpain finale in November means I haven’t raced since mid-October so Bathurst will allow me to blow off the winter cobwebs and sharpen up my race craft up.
“It will be awesome back racing an R8. The LMS ultra is very satisfying to drive on the limit and I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel.”
Latif collected the Blancpain Sprint Series Pro-Am Trophy in his home city of London (28 Nov). Alessandro and co-driver Marc Basseng swept their Audi to eight wins from 10 race class starts marking a promising maiden Blancpain season for the rising British driver.