Touching motivation behind legendary team’s Bathurst 1000 return
A much-beloved name will return to the Supercars grid for a one-off start at this year’s Bathurst 1000.
Garry Rogers Motorsport will take part in the Great Race with former driver James Moffat and rookie Nathan Hearne.
Garry Rogers Motorsport won the 2000 Bathurst 1000 with Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna. Nick Wilson/ALLSPORT
Garry Rogers and his eponymous team competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship and Supercars for more than 30 years until the end of 2019.
Rogers was one of the most colourful characters in Australian motorsport before his death last October, aged 80.
The team’s Bathurst entry will be run by his son Barry. The announcement was made on what would have been Garry’s 81st birthday.
Having withdrawn from full-time competition at the end of 2019, GRM made a one-off start at the 2020 Bathurst 1000. Hearne was originally slated to be one of the drivers, but his entry was controversially rejected over licence requirements.
Moffat, the son of Aussie motorsport legend Alan Moffat, drove for GRM’s Supercars team in 2016 and 2017.
Both Moffat and Hearne currently drive for GRM in the Australian Trans-Am series.
GRM won a sodden 2000 edition of the Bathurst 1000 with Jason Bargwanna and Garth Tander.
The 2026 entry will also be backed by long-term sponsor Valvoline, and the team is expected to run a tribute livery.
The crew of mechanics and engineers who will work on the car is also expected to be made up of several current and former GRM employees.
Barry said his father’s memory was a driving force in putting the program together.
“I’m aware of the romantic side to GRM again racing in Supercars and in particular at Bathurst, and although it’s important to embrace that feeling, this entry is to celebrate what Dad contributed to motorsport and to thank him,” Barry said in a statement.
“Dad is missed enormously by our family and for the many past and present Garry Rogers Motorsport employees, sponsors, friends and motorsport fans, we are determined to put our very best foot forward in every aspect of this entry.
“Dad always supported young people, Nathan Herne won the 2022 Trans Am Series as a 19-year-old under the tutelage of Garry. To have him joined by James Moffat, who Dad was tremendously fond of and also a GRM Trans Am Champion, is a very fitting line-up.”
Barry Rogers (left) and eponymous team co-owner Garry Rogers. Jack Martin
Having raced Commodores for much of its Supercars existence, GRM in 2014 famously teamed up with Swedish automotive giant Volvo to race a pair of S60s, before returning to Holden when Volvo withdrew support.
The team will race in an ex-Triple Eight Chevrolet Camaro.
The 2026 Bathurst 1000 will be held from October 8-11.
