#20 IRC set for race after midnight repair effort

A remarkable repair effort, which included adding parts from a Combined Sedans entry, has the #20 IRC GT entry set to start the Repco Bathurst 12 Hour.

The #20 T2 Racing/Localseach entry was heavily damaged after a crash for Adam Hargraves midway through Practice 6 on Saturday morning.

Hargraves crashed the #20 IRC on the run into McPhillamy Park, with the car hitting the wall on the right side.

The car whipped around towards the inside wall at John Hinxman Vista, with the #20 sustaining heavy rear damage.

The car was quickly stripped, with Steven Lacey’s #78 MARC GT SS entry, entered in the Combined Sedans support category, emerging as a saviour for the team.

A well-known Sports Sedan racer, Lacey finished 10th, fourth and fifth in the three Combined Sedans race at Mount Panorama this weekend.

The GT SS, Car 006, is owned by Geoff Taunton and was leased out to Lacey for coming rounds.

However, parts of the car will now be in the thick of it at the Mountain on race day, thanks to last-ditch repairs that were completed at midnight — less than six hours before race start.

Team mechanics returned to the track in the lead-up to the race, which will have 29 starters, down from the original 30 following the withdrawal of the #50 KTM.

Trent Harrison crashed the #50 XBOW in the closing stages of Practice 6, with the car first hitting the concrete into Forrest’s Elbow before rolling head-on into the tyre barriers.

It was the second year running that the XBOW won’t make the start of the race, with an engine failure in Friday practice last year forcing the team to lease a spare Audi for the remainder of the weekend.

Sunday's Repco Bathurst 12 Hour will get underway at 5:45am AEDT.