Dylan O’Keeffe will join Jimmy Golding in the #31 Subway PremiAir Racing Supercar for the Repco Bathurst 1000 this October.
O’Keeffe will be making his third Bathurst 1000 start when he lines up on the grid at Mount Panorama later in the year.
He finished 11th in the race on debut in 2020 and 14th last year.
The Victorian has an impressive recent racing resume, having secured top five championship finishes in the Super2 Series and TCR Australia Series; he also finished third in the 2018 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship.
The 24-year-old is racing in this year’s TCR Australia Series and Porsche Carrera Cup Australia and has already raced at the Mountain this year with a class win (and fourth place overall) in the Bathurst 6 Hour in a Mercedes AMG A45 production car at Easter.
He heads into this year’s Great Race familiar with both the car he will be racing, and the driver he will be partnering. O’Keeffe and Golding already have a strong friendship from their time racing together at Garry Rogers Motorsport.
“I raced this same chassis last year, so it is going to be good to be back in that car with the new team,” O’Keeffe said.
“The Subway PremiAir Racing Supercar looks really good and to be partnering Jimmy is super exciting as we are good mates, so we get along well.
“I am looking forward to working with him and picking his brain. By the time we get to Bathurst, he will have learnt so much more about the car, and I am looking forward to joining the team and building into Bathurst.
“We will get a good couple of test days under our belt and the Sandown co-driver session will deliver plenty of laps as well. It will be important to get comfortable and back into V8 mode – they are a unique kind of car, and while I am doing a lot of racing in other classes, nothing is quite the same as a Supercar.”
Golding says he is keen to go racing with O’Keeffe at the Mountain this October.
“I am really excited to be working with Dylan at Bathurst,” Golding said.
“Dylan and I know each other from our history at GRM, and I get on with him really well, so that is going to make that part of it much easier.
“We have driven alongside each other, not in the same car, but we have worked with each other before. He has come on strong with his Porsche and TCR racing, so I think he is as good a pick as anyone for the big race.
“I can’t wait to make sure Dylan is comfortable at the test day before we head to Bathurst.”
PremiAir Racing Team Principal, Matt Cook, said the team is looking forward to having O’Keeffe on board.
“We are very excited to have Dylan joining the team,” Cook said.
“He has a lot of experience driving Supercars and he has raced in other categories lately, including TCR and Carrera Cup. He has been honing his race craft, so hopefully he can come on board the Subway PremiAir Racing Supercar with Jimmy and do a good job for us at Bathurst.”
PremiAir Racing will hold a test day at Queensland Raceway on Tuesday 9 August where O’Keeffe will join Golding in preparation for the Great Race.
