Gardner comes to Larkham's rescue
17/8/2001 16:13 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Bathurst's pole men for 1999 and 2000 will unite for this year's challenge, with the announcement World 500cc Motorcycle Champion Wayne Gardner will partner Mark Larkham in this year's endurance events.
After a long negotiation process, stalled by the team's recent financial woes, Larkham was able to announce this afternoon he'd secured the services of Gardner in an eleventh-hour deal.
"It is certainly terrific to have a driver of Wayne's profile and ability on board with us," Larkham said.
"To have the pole-sitters of the last two Bathursts in one car is certainly a good start when talking about speed."
Larkham claimed a surprise pole at Mt. Panorama in 1999, while Gardner, aboard a Ford-Tickford Falcon, caused a similar upset in last year's Top Ten Shootout.
Gardner, 41, will arrive in Brisbane from his home in Monaco next week to campaign the Larkham Motorsport Falcon at the VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 at Queensland Raceway next weekend.
He'll return in early October for the V8 1000 at Bathurst.
Gardner divides his time between Monaco, Australia and Japan, where he's competing in the Japanese GT Championship for Toyota.
Despite his longing for a Bathurst title, Gardner declared himself an unlikely starter last month because nobody had made him an attractive offer.
Today, Gardner said he was looking forward to racing for a "professional and competitive" outfit.
"The Queensland 500 and Bathurst are both high-profile races and you need to know you are arriving at both events with a competitive package," he said.
"I think Bathurst is an event every Australian race driver wants to win at some stage of his career and Mark and I have both proven to be quick there in the past."
The Larkham Falcon will continue to run without a major sponsor, after a deal with Intellegent Card Systems collapsed earlier this year.
Larkham hopes the lure of a former World Champion will help entice a deep-pocketed backer for the remainder of his 2001 campaign.
"We have struggled a little since losing our major sponsor, but we are hoping the involvement of Wayne will help us get a naming-rights partner over the line in the coming week," he said.
"At a time when everyone was expecting us to be on the back foot we have come out on the front foot and are doing everything to maintain our professional standards."
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