Photo: V8 Supercars

Matt Halliday snares final LDM enduro seat

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Matt Halliday has been confirmed as the co-pilot for Dean Fiore’s Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport prepared Commodore in the inaugural PIRTEK Enduro Cup. The announcement all but settles the field ahead of next month’s Sandown 500, leaving only Triple Eight’s wildcard Bathurst entry unconfirmed with less than two months until the iconic race gets underway.

It will be the second consecutive year that Halliday and Fiore have combined for the endurance events, however this year they will be campaigning a Dodo-sponsored Commodore, rather than a Dick Johnson Racing prepared Falcon. The pairing had varying degrees of success in last year’s Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000, having taken the chequered flag in 16th and 22nd at the respective events.

Halliday has accumulated plenty of endurance experience throughout his career, including eight Bathurst 1000 starts since 2004. The Kiwi is no stranger to settling in with different V8 Supercar outfits, having competed with Larkham Motorsport, Ford Performance Racing, Britek Motorsport, Brad Jones Racing and Dick Johnson Racing over the course of his endurance career.

Additionally, the 34 year-old currently competes in the Blancpain Endurance Series for Belgium’s W Racing Team, and should have no difficulty performing long stints behind the wheel of Fiore’s VF Commodore.

Halliday told V8 Supercars.com.au, “I’m very happy to be joining up with LDM and driving with Deano for a second year in a row”. “We are a similar size which works well for seating and driver changes and I’m confident we will be a strong package to watch out for in the endurance races”.

The WRT pilot’s best result in the Bathurst 1000 was achieved in 2010, where in combination with Jason Bright, he managed to finish in fourth position just 2.4 seconds shy of victory. While racing with Larkham Motorsport in 2004 and 2005, the Kiwi narrowly missed the top 10 at Bathurst on consecutive occasions, finishing 11th and 12th in the respective editions of the race.

Dean Fiore, currently occupying 20th position in the standings, is looking forward to once again collaborating with the US-based Kiwi.
“Matt is very, very professional, very fast and we get on really well” said Fiore. “I think Matt will really fit in well with the team so I am really looking forward to that”.

Experience was clearly a priority for Lucas Dumbrell, with Paul Morris already appointed as Scott Pye’s co-pilot in the Ekol Racing Commodore. Much like Halliday, Morris has been a uniform figure in Australian motorsport throughout the past decade, competing in many different disciplines including a number of full-time V8 Supercar campaigns.

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport completed their first test of the year at Winton Motor Raceway on Tuesday, as the team struggles to reach any great heights with their two Triple Eight-built VF Commodores. Red Bull Racing’s Mark Dutton and Jamie Whincup were on hand to assist in eking greater pace out of their entries as the Melbourne-based outfit desperately strives for greater competitiveness in the latter half of the season.

The inaugural PIRTEK Enduro Cup kicks off in exactly one month at Sandown Raceway in Victoria. It will be followed by the Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600 during October. This year, restrictions have been eased to allow co-drivers to compete in all three events, where previously international drivers were required for the concluding event at Surfers Paradise.