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MOSTERT, SLADE SET FOR B6HR RETURNS
TWO Supercars stars will get more Bathurst seat time when they return to contest the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour this Easter. Former race winner Chaz Mostert and regular Tim Slade will return to the event, Mostert for his third attempt and Slade his second.While Mostert will return to drive alongside good mate and fellow 2016 winner Nathan Morcom, Slade will re-unite with Dylan Thomas driving a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X RS.The pair shared the car last year and were highly fancied contenders, qualifying fifth outright before mechanical dramas hit in the early stages, ruling them out of the race. “I don’t know what the other cars are, if it’s going to be much of a different field to last year, but Dylan has always had pretty quick Evos, so hopefully can be a bit more reliable this year and we’ll get through to the end and get a decent result,” Slade told Speedcafe.com (Click to read the full story) today.”I do enjoy doing races outside of the Supercars stuff, just because it is pretty chilled out and relaxed. It takes you back to the grassroots.”Thomas’ experienced CXC Global / CGR Performance outfit is set to field multiple cars in the race again this year, with their additional entries to be announced.Meanwhile, Mostert will return to Bathurst more experienced than ever thanks in part to another starring performance at the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year.There, he qualified the BMW Team Schnitzer M6 on pole position in the top-10 shootout, adding to his list of Bathurst successes that includes the 2014 Bathurst 1000 and 2016 B6HR victory.Speedcafe.com spoke with Mostert on the weekend, with the Tickford Racing driver admitting he was keen to go one better than their tense, second-place result last year.Mostert had led the race in the DPO Ford Focus RS until the car broke fifth and sixth gears in the closing stages, ultimatley slipping to second with four laps to go.”It’s going to be awesome to team up with Nathan and the DPO team again and see if we can get a little bit closer this year,” Mostert told Speedcafe.”We won the first time two years ago and then obviously got second last year, so hopefully we can have a good running this year.”The DPO team is likely to be boyed by a strong Australian Production Car season last year, where Morcom – and Mostert on occasion – raced the car at the front of the field.The Focus made its racing debut at Bathurst last Easter and is expected to benefit from a full year’s worth of development.The Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour will be held on 1 April this year, continuing the tradition of racing on the Easter long weekend at Mount Panorama.This year marks the 80th anniversary of racing commencing on the iconic circuit located in Bathurst.