Nissan confirm GT-R line-up

Nissan "Athletes" Alex Buncombe, Katsumasa Chiyo and Wolfgang Reip will again team up to take on the 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour. The trio will return to the Mountain in a GT3 spec Nissan GT-R minus the fourth musketeer, Rick Kelly, who has been banned from the event by a V8 Supercars dictate.

As widely reported V8 Supercars has scheduled a mandatory pre-season practice weekend against the 12 Hour. It has also dictated all regular V8 drivers must attend. The decision effectively banned Australia's top drivers from the GT-based endurance race.

The NISMO Athlete Global Team will be hoping to improve on its efforts at the 2014 event. Although the squad qualified fifth, its race was cut short at lap 59 by an incident which saw the GT3-spec GT-R all but destroyed.

The 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour is one of the first events in what Nissan has described as "an enormous year of motorsport".

Buncombe will be making his third Bathurst start in 12 months, having also teamed up with Todd Kelly in the Nissan Motorsport V8 Supercar team for last October's Bathurst 1000. In addition to the resulting seventh placing at Bathurst, the young Englishman also partnered Kelly at the Sandown 500 and Gold Coast 600 endurance events in 2014.

Chiyo returns to Mount Panorama after a season in the European-based Blancpain Endurance Series with the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN. Belgian, Reip's main 2014 claims to fame were the first fully-electric lap of Le Mans and second place at the 2014 British GT Championship event at his home circuit of Spa-Franchorchamps.

Global Head of Nismo Brand, Marketing & Sales, Darren Cox says the squad has "unfinished business" at Mount Panorama.

“We want a good result in this historic event and we have a great team of people in place to make sure we meet our own high standards. It was important for us to give Al, Chiyo and Wolfie another shot at the Mountain.”

Buncombe especially says he's looking forward to the return bout.

"The circuit is simply amazing, like no other... My V8 Supercar experience from last year will put me in a better position this time so I can't wait to get back behind the wheel, especially as the flowing corners and long straights at Mount Panorama are just what the GT-R loves.

"We showed very well last year in the running we had so my expectations are high - I would love to walk away with a podium.”

Buncombe will no doubt be keen to build on his reputation as one of the best 'starters' in GT racing. The 24 year old's opening lap of the Monza round of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series was an internet sensation.